[SPONSORED] I Asked Hard Questions to the CEO of PIDM

As I sat down with Rafiz Azuan Abdullah, the CEO of PIDM or
Perbadanan Insurans Deposit Malaysia
 and asked my questions, it occurred to me that this man is truly at peace with doing a thankless job.

If you’re unfamiliar with what PIDM does, they are basically a government authority that provides protection for your deposits, as well as takaful and insurance benefits in the unlikely event a PIDM member institution fails.

For example, let’s say Bank X somehow goes bankrupt and you have RM10k saved there. As Bank X is a PIDM member bank, PIDM will make sure you get your RM10k back immediately.

The good news is there hasn’t been a financial institution failure in Malaysia since the Asian Financial Crisis which happened more than 20 years ago… which comes to the question: what
does
 PIDM do when things are smooth sailing in the financial system?

Let me share with you my interview with Rafiz, and together we’ll find out what PIDM gets up to behind the scenes.

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A post shared by Suraya Zainudin (@surayaror)
 on
Jul 28, 2019 at 11:05pm PDT

#Q1 – What’s your background? How did you end up in PIDM?

“My background is in accounting and finance. I previously worked with Rating Agency Malaysia (RAM) and was part of the Corporate Debt Restructuring Committee (CDRC),” said Rafiz, throwing all these words around like it was nothing. “I joined PIDM in 2007, shortly after its establishment in 2005.”

In his previous roles, Rafiz was kept busy dealing with the aftermath of the 1997-98 Asian Financial Crisis. He has extensive experience and specialises in analysing financial institutions. Basically, he checked how big of a mess companies were in, then found ways to resolve and restructure them.

In his work as CEO of PIDM, he does two big things:

Tells the public not to worry
 (because better mechanisms are in place now to tackle failing member institutions, if and when they do happen), and

Works with other financial safety net players to
prevent failures from happening
, and at the same time, figure out ways to reduce the impact of a bank or takaful/insurance company failure
if
 it does happen.

I was curious about the second part.

#Q2 – Is there going to be a financial crisis?

Since it’s not often that I get to interview heads of financial regulatory bodies, I had to ask the golden question: Are we in for a financial crisis anytime soon and, how ready is PIDM for it?

“It’s not a matter of ‘if’ but a matter of ‘when’,” said Rafiz, “and PIDM is ready for it regardless of when it happens.”

“In a situation involving a PIDM member bank failure, we have mechanisms in place to automatically process payments (reimbursements) to depositors and ensure continued access to financial services. During normal times, or business as usual, we do our best to assure people that their insured deposits are always safe.”

What else happens during business as usual, I asked?

“We encourage good risk

management among our member institutions, which are both conventional and Islamic banks, and takaful and insurance companies.
How we achieve this is by charging higher premiums to member institutions that take higher risks and vice versa.”

“To ensure a holistic view, we work and coordinate with Bank Negara Malaysia as they are the primary supervisor for the financial system.”

#Q3 – Where does the money to pay depositors come from?

I was too young during the 1997-98 financial crisis, but even I can picture how bad it must have been. I have seen those news stories showing angry mobs at banks in other parts of the world, demanding their money back.

It’s hard to imagine it, but not all countries around the world have PIDM-like agencies. Only 133 or so countries have this type of organisation. We’re one of the lucky ones.

I wondered where PIDM gets the money to reimburse to all affected depositors. We’re talking about at least a few hundred million RM they need to have on hand at all times, right?

“The money comes from the premiums paid by all of our

member banks
. It’s collected in a fund all this while, always ready to be used to reimburse depositors.”

(Rafiz explains that a similar fund is collected from levies paid by PIDM’s insurer members, which will be used to pay takaful certificate/insurance policy owners when they need to make claims on their eligible benefits in the event of an insurer member failure.

PIDM’s member institutions include conventional and Islamic banks, insurance companies and takaful operators. Here’s how to spot them.)

And is the pay-out process to depositors automatic?

“Yes, it is automatic. To ensure this, PIDM carried out internal simulations and continuously tests out the funds disbursement process. We check how long it takes and find ways to improve the process and speed. The mechanism is good, but it would be useless if people don’t know about it.”

“That’s why we have the public outreach component. The main thing is to prevent depositor panic. In case a PIDM member bank fails, for example, you need to know that you don’t have to barge into your bank to demand your money. The disbursement process is made automatically.”

#Q4 – PIDM has been called the firefighter equivalent in the Malaysian financial system. Is that a good analogy?

“We’ve been called a lot of things, and yes, firefighter is one of them,” he laughed, “but maybe a doctor is better? We advise our member institutions on how they can better manage their risks (prevention advice), but if needed we’re ready to dispense the medicine and perform the surgery too.”

#Q5 – Deposits protection is free and automatic under PIDM and covers depositors up to RM250,000 per depositor per member bank. Any plans to increase that amount?

“No, we have no plans to increase the amount as it is still adequate. With effect from 31 December 2010, the deposit protection was increased from RM60,000 to the current RM250,000,” Rafiz explained.

“We carried out a survey towards the end of last year and we found that the amount is sufficient to protect 97% of depositors in full. For deposit protection to be effective, it would need to protect at least 90% of depositors and PIDM has well exceeded this benchmark.”

Fair enough. But readers, you
can
 get protection if you have more than RM250,000 – you just have to be clever about it. See the PIDM-approved deposit protection hacks under #6 in the

What Does PIDM Do
 article.

#Q6 – What are some of the hardest parts of your job?

“Well we have different stakeholders and each of them comes with their unique challenges,” said Rafiz good-naturedly.

“With the public, it’s always the
‘it would never happen’
 challenge. Things have been going well all this while so that makes it harder for them to remember the details about PIDM’s protection. The last big financial crisis was two decades ago. Many people didn’t live through that, or were too young then.”

“Plus, PIDM doesn’t have a call-to-action – all you have to do if something happens is
to do nothing
. So it’s not particularly exciting.”

(That’s cool with me. I can do nothing. I’m a pro at doing nothing.)

“We just have to keep reminding the public however way we can, whether it’s through a mass advertisement campaign or direct on-ground engagements. Our public awareness level for PIDM currently stands at 63%. We’re aiming for 65% going forward.”

“With the member banks and insurer members, on the other hand…,” he smiled, “They sometimes ask us why they need to continue paying premiums if nothing is happening. We just have to keep reminding them that it’s necessary to be prepared for any eventuality.”

Ha, I can somewhat relate to the banks and insurers here. It’s like the insurance policy you take when you’re healthy – you know it’s good for you but it may be hard to see the point of it until disaster strikes.

#Q7 – What projects are in the pipeline for PIDM?

“It’s mainly improving what we have in place,” said Rafiz, “We have ‘defence’ and ‘offence’ strategies.”

I asked further. The PIDM team considers ‘defence’ as improving legislation and the mechanisms put in place to ensure the protection of depositors and takaful certificate/insurance policy owners in the event of a failure.

“Our current system can do it within 3 working days, and we’re working towards implementing a seamless pay-out process,” said Rafiz.

On the other hand, the ‘offence’ part is the public awareness initiatives carried out by PIDM, both online and on the ground. “We are part of the newly-formed Financial Education Network or FEN as well, and we want to play a bigger part in contributing to a more financially-literate community.”

“Aside from that, we’d really like to improve on our online presence to reach out to young people like yourself, who are connected 24/7. We’re also developing several thought leadership articles on topics related, but not limited, to financial crises.”

Oh I would love to read that. I wonder all the time how a financial crisis happens, what are the red flags, etc. Many of the literature I’ve read on financial crises tend to relate to the US and I would appreciate articles and case studies that have a more Malaysian perspective to them.

Lastly,

Like I said in the beginning. What the PIDM team does is a thankless job, but someone has to do it, and I’m glad Malaysia is among the countries in the world with organisations like PIDM.

I want to thank Rafiz Azuan Abdullah and PIDM for having me to spread their public awareness initiatives. This is our fourth collaboration together, and each one has been a joy. Thank you for doing the work you do, and for protecting my money.

See our previous collaboration articles below:

[SPONSORED] What Does PIDM Do and Why Should YOU Care?

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

[SPONSORED] Malaysians Share Scams in Malaysia They Fell For (or Almost)

Go and follow
PIDM’s Facebook page
. Sometimes they organise contests and stuff. They will also produce more financial literature, so be sure to check that out.


Malaysians Share Cheap Things They Have Done

Frugalism is a good trait to have.
Wealthy people tend to have frugal characteristics
. In the classic The Millionaire Next Door book, the author found that while wealthy people may have lots of money, most of them don’t
look
 rich.

That makes sense, since you don’t get rich by spending all your money away correct or not.

But this is not an article about frugalism. This is an article about cheapness, it’s lesser cousin.

I observed something. Many people, while trying to be frugal and be responsible with their money,
would do things that are considered cheap before they learned to become more frugal.

For example,

A
cheap
 person would choose the longer route just to avoid the toll.

A
frugal
 person would realise that the extra RM2 toll is not worth the extra 20 minutes in jam and 5km extra in distance.

—

A
cheap
 person would bargain and threaten local sellers into lowering their prices at the market

A
frugal
 person would take into account the quality of their work and wares, and pay them a fair price

—

A
cheap
 person would ask their friends to pay for their meals or cover other expenses, while splurging on themselves

A
frugal
 person would treat someone they respect for coffee at a nice but affordable place to build long-term relationships (and maybe use discounts/vouchers/rebates)

The point I’m trying to make is:
Cheap people look at price. Frugal people look at value.

In a mini-forum organised at Ringgit Oh Ringgit FB page, I asked readers about the cheap things they have done. *I’ve* certainly done them.

Now, the Ringgit Oh Ringgit audience tend to be frugal, not cheap, because I’ve never advocated being cheap for cheap’s sake in any of my content.
But I thought it was fun to see the remnants of cheapness that remain in them.

Here are some of the cheap things Malaysians do, as shared by readers. Some made me lol. Thank you to everyone!

Sara Razz
 – I would tapau foods from events if I get any chance. I also order one Bottomless drink for both me and hubs.

Shafiq Ibrahim
 – I go to bookstores to see latest book offerings. Then go back and download the ebook versions.

Alya Shaiful
 – My primary school teacher used to get mad at me because I write conservatively on every line so I don’t have to buy a new notebook.

I distinctly remember her saying something on the lines of “your parents are rich, you can afford a new notebook”. That is probably the one thing I remembered about this teacher

The Stockmonger
 – I eat cereal and milk with a fork. So that I can save milk.
#lifehack

My sister wakes up at noon so she doesn’t have to spend on breakfast.

Anon
– (I’m cheap about) saving on face care products. After I wash my hair, I’d let the foam and water rinse over my face.

Archibald Frankie Undam
 – There used to be a stall last time when I was in Uni. If you eat there, they would charge you extra 10 cents. What I did was everyday was to tapau the food but sit to eat there and get the sup kosong and air kosong for free.

Hakim
– Sometimes I don’t order foods when I eat out with families because I know they won’t be able to finish their foods and I can be the DBKL. Also meal for one can be sufficient for two people, according to a hadith (Sahih Muslim 2059).

Pelham Blue
 – If you go to a FocusPoint outlet, you can ask nicely for a spectacles case, new cleaning cloth, and contact lens case free of charge. Not to mention the FOC cleaning service.

(Suraya’s notes: And then their frugalism came out) But do purchase something and be a repeat customer as courtesy. We ought to support outstanding businesses/service. We personally support the company by buying the stock.

Kia
– I would go around to find a baby room to fill up my water bottle in malls, because bottled water for RM4 is daylight robbery!
If not, there’s Plan B of buying bottled water from grocery stores for RM1 for a bottle.

But if I’m REALLY being cheap, I’ll just wait it out, especially when I’m out with friends/siblings who never finish their drinks!

Ara Mira
 – Not me but my father. He would order tapau drinks but drink it at the restaurant WITH his meal. Simply because tapau drinks have more volume and he can continue to drink if he can’t finish it at the restaurant.

Nezyrin
– Upon staying at a hotel, I will request more instant coffee/tea bags so I can bring it back home. I would also ask the cleaning lady if they could give me more (usually they would).

Afiqah Mazli
– Oh you mean like clearing (stashing it into the luggage) the toiletries of the hotel sink and request for more every day/ every chances kind of cheap?

Cheah Zinnirah
 – I love to visit my sisters’ and aunts’ houses when they doing house clearing. I’d help them throw unused items while look for something that I can use. Usually I’d get preloved/never worn clothes, accessories, perfumes, bed sheets, free gifts that they don’t want anymore, things like that.

Zarinah Mohd Yusoff
 –
I seldom order drinks for myself when I am dining out with my family. And I share my husband’s drink, hoping to save the cost for six.

The rule of cheap

Be as cheap as you want, as long as your cheapness is justified, for example:

You really REALLY cannot afford to spend the extra money

It
doesn’t negatively affect individuals and businesses who depend on the income

You return the favour with friends and family, not just take take take only

I don’t really care if you reuse things to oblivion, or waste your time searching for the best possible prices for an item, or anything like that. As long as you use the rule of no harm to others, you’re good in my book.

In what way are YOU cheap? Share them in the comments!


Best Employee Benefits in Malaysia, According to Malaysians Who Get Them

Good employers and great employee benefits in Malaysia exist. Before we even start this article, I just want to tell you that despite all the workplace-related horror stories you read on social media, good and caring employers exist. They just get overshadowed by all the bad ones.

And here’s the thing – they *want* to attract you, a talented professional, to work with them.

This article serves two purposes:

For employers and future employers to take note of
what brilliant employees expect
 in exchange for their hard work and loyalty, so you can grow your business better

For employees to refuse – nay,
reject
 – workplaces that don’t treat them well. Let those businesses die a slow death, they deserve it

Types of Employee Benefits in Malaysia

I would categorise employee benefits in Malaysia into two types: mandatory employee benefits (bare minimum) and AMAZING.

Let’s cover the first one – the mandatory employee benefits in Malaysia. These benefits are considered bare minimum, but some companies don’t even do them!

Mandatory employee benefits (bare minimum)

Safe and comfortable office to do the work in

Functional, legal and safe work tools and equipment

Respectful boss/superior who don’t take advantage of you (being exploitative, offer minimum wage only, overt discriminative actions/policies, force you to work more than expected, never pay for overtime, withhold your salary/EPF, etc)

Sanctioned holidays and annual leaves

That’s it. That’s pretty much it, that’s the bare minimum. If your employer right now is not fulfilling any of the above basics, run.

List of Employee Benefits in Malaysia: Beyond bare minimum

Now that we got the bare basics out of the way, we can move on to the actually cool employee benefits. These benefits show that the
employers value their employees’ well-being and sense of purpose
.

Take note that it’s not realistic to expect your employer to provide ALL of these benefits, but a selection of them is nice. My intention is to let you know about some benefits out there, not to make you feel bitter about what you don’t have!

These employee benefits include:

Pays a competitive salary

Cool colleagues

Pantry with fridge and microwave

Free-flow hot beverages like coffee and tea, and snacks

Filtered drinking water

Fun hanging out spaces to rejuvenate

Comprehensive healthcare and medical benefits

Childcare assistance

Covers dental and optical

Flexible working hours

Option to work from home

Great work-life balance (40 hours per week)

Generous claims for transportation and/or utilities

Access to gyms, fitness-related activities and/or wellness programmes

Company retreats, outings and makan occasions

Opportunities for salary increments, self-development and career growth

Annual leaves that can be carried forward and/or can be converted into cash value

Annual bonus

All those
are
 nice, right? Ah man, being
self-employed
 and
working from home
 is fun and all, but I do miss these employee benefits, I really do.

But wait! The fun part comes from the RoR audience. When I asked the question as a mini-forum, some of you told me employee benefits in Malaysia that I’ve never even thought of!

Other amazing employee benefits in Malaysia, as shared by Malaysians

Here are some replies, published with permission (underline is my emphasis):

Sangeetha Jayaram
 – My current employer provides flexibility to work from home,
great medical benefits inclusive spouse and kids
, flexible hours, and nothing beats my department GM and my boss, truly the best.

My current employer also
sponsored my learning and development
. They paid for my training in Agile and Scrum, and I passed both certification exams. I am now exploring DevOps.

–

Eddie Yong
–
I’m a Malaysian working in Singapore. (They provide me with)
child care leaves
. Dental subsidy. Snacks (overflowed chocolates). Coffee machine. Fridges with can drinks. Nice office environment to chill and work.
Most importantly cool boss
😆

–

ARia ADia Sha RoSe
 – (My workplace does)
Fruits day once a week
🍇
🍊
🍎
🍏

–

Syaza Nazura
 – (I get)
Free parking
. Also lots of tea and coffee for those who drink them (not me but they have Milo too so I’m good). Also I got an
office laptop
 (choice between Dell XPS and Macbook Air, obv chose the Macbook) to use (that I can bring home).

(I also get access to) Gym, swimming pool and running tracks to use before and after work. Microwave and fridge to use. Staff gets 30% off for lunch sets at the canteen.

–

Dzurihan Yusoff
 – (I get)
Career growth, vast knowledge expansion,
unlimited medical benefit
, 30 days annual leave, smart casual attire, yearly increment, and
Harvard Business Corporate e-learning subscription
.

–

Brian Soon
 –
Every 2 weeks, the company gives us a Friday off. So in a month we get
2 extra days of leave
. It’s really nice to have an extra day for the weekend where you can settle other things (eg going to the bank or catching up with friends)
😁

–

To elaborate more, my company is from France and they really value work-life balance in their work culture. For maternity leave, the ladies get 4 months off and the man get 1 month off as
parental leave
.

–

Ivan
 –
I used to work for a US organisation. With them I enjoyed:
3 meals a day
,
housing with free air-conditioning, internet and water
, free parking at work and petrol reimbursement, basic 12 annual leave + 1 day additional for every 2 years you work,  unused annual leave can be carried forward to the following year, yearly bonus of one month, and
unlimited amount of special paid leave
 (Family funeral, hospitalisation, dental visit, emergency cases etc)

—

So you see, the point I made in my first paragraph stands. Good employers exist, and they may be looking for you right now.

What cool employee benefits do you have?

By this point, if you’re feeling like your company can do better, then you have 3 choices:

implement the benefits you want yourself (go and propose to workplace, never ask never know. Some benefits don’t require much funds to implement!), or

find the employer of your dreams
, or

accept and just be grateful for the job that you do have. It could be worse :/

Does your company offer employee benefits that are not included here? I’d love to see more variety – and dare I say, creativity – among different companies 😀 Let us know in the comments section!


19 Financial Education Initiatives in Malaysia You Should Know

Something exciting happened recently. On 23 July 2019, Tun M launched the National Strategy for Financial Literacy (2019-2023).

Korang. A national strategy. For financial literacy. Isn’t this amazing? I’m all for it. This is great, we needed this.

So I was browsing through
the document
 (thanks Vincent for sending to me!) and thought, hey! There are so many financial education initiatives, many of which I didn’t know about! I should share this on RoR!

So here you go. Every single financial education initiatives under members of Financial Education Network (FEN), as of writing time.

#1 – Ministry of Education

Initiative
:
 Integrating financial education elements in the curriculum

What it is:
 Teach financial education component in schools

Official description
: The integration of financial education element is carried out in several subjects directly or indirectly.

Among the subjects that apply this knowledge of financial education at Standards-Based Curriculum for Primary Schools (KSSR) and KSSR levels (Revised 2017) are Mathematics, Bahasa Melayu, English and Moral Education.

While the examples of subjects at the Standards-Based Curriculum for Secondary Schools (KSSM) level are Economics, Business, Accounting Principles, Mathematics, Bahasa Melayu, English, Home Science, Agriculture and other subjects.

The integration of this elements implemented through the subject curriculum in accordance with the suitability of the theme and areas of learning

#2 – Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM)

There are 3 initiatives under BNM, of which 1 is for the public, and 2 is for government agencies and civil servants:

Initiative #1
:
Karnival Kewangan
 (
website
 |
Facebook
 |
Instagram
) EDIT: No longer running

What it is:
 Fun weekend activity for the public, with financial education twist

Official description
: Karnival Kewangan is a one-stop edutainment centre to elevate public’s awareness on financial matters, enhance financial literacy among Malaysian and serve the needs of financial consumers.

Karnival Kewangan is a collaborative Public-Private Partnership initiative aimed at widening outreach of financial education nationwide

—

Initiative #2
:
Train-the-Trainers (TTT) programme for Government agencies

What it is:
 Improving financial literacy in government agencies

Official description:
 Train-the-Trainers (TTT) programme is an initiative to train and enhance the capability of the counsellors at the government agencies to conduct self-directed financial education sessions within their agency.

The programme also provides intervention measures to achieve prudent financial management behaviour among the government officers.

—

Initiative #3
:
Personal Financial Education module at E-Pembelajaran Sektor Awam (EPSA®) on-line learning platform

What it is:
 Improving financial literacy among civil servants (online)

Official description:
 Personal Financial Education module (or Modul Pendidikan Kewangan Peribadi) is a newly launched on-line learning module offered to all civil servants in Malaysia.

This initiative is in line with the Government’s initiative to promote the use of online learning to civil servants for their continuous and lifelong

learning.

#3 – Securities Commission Malaysia

Initiative
:
InvestSmart®
(
website
)

What it is:
 Public education events for Malaysian investors

Official description:
The InvestSmart® brand is SC’s investor education initiative to create more informed investors who are self-reliant and are able to make investment decisions that are right for them.

Since its launch in 2014, InvestSmart® has actively carried our various initiatives to reach out to a wide spectrum of the public throughout the nation, educating them on a range of investment related topics.

InvestSmart® initiatives includes the annual flagship investor education event InvestSmart® Fest, Bersama InvestSmart® @ Borneo, SC-in-the-Community, seminars, InvestSmart® website, mobile application, online educational game Jump2Invest and social media platforms including Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.

#4 – Employees Provident Fund (EPF)

There are 2 initiatives under EPF:

 Image credit: RinggitPlus

Initiative #1
:
Belanjawanku

What it is:
 A rough guide to show how much money we need to live

Official description
: An expenditure guide, providing estimated minimum monthly expenses on various types of goods and services for different households in Malaysia. It is a useful tool for Malaysians to plan for their personal and family budgeting to achieve a reasonable standard of living

—

Initiative #2
:
Retirement Advisory Services (RAS)
 (
website
)

What it is:
 Advices Malaysians on retirement planning. Try the retirement calculator in their website

Official description:
 RAS offers personalized financial advice particularly on retirement planning to members of the public. It aims to raise financial literacy and guide Malaysians to plan for their retirement as well as understand available options that can help increase their retirement savings.

#5 – Perbadanan Insurans Deposit Malaysia (PIDM)

There are 2 initiatives under PIDM:

Initiative #1
:
PIDM Public Engagement Programme

What it is:
 Tell people what PIDM do. I’ve done a few collaborations with PIDM under this initiative – see:

[SPONSORED] What Does PIDM Do and Why Should YOU Care?

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

[SPONSORED] Malaysians Share Scams in Malaysia They Fell For (or Almost)

Official description
: An outreach programme to bring financial education and PIDM awareness to the public in various locations.

—

Initiative #2
:
PIDM briefings

What it is:
 Like #1, but more targeted?

Official description:
 A series of briefing sessions to different target segments e.g. youth, retirees and working adults to promote awareness on PIDM’s financial consumer protection systems.

#6 – Agensi Kaunseling dan Pengurusan Kredit (AKPK)

There are 5 initiatives under AKPK, of which 3 is for the public, 1 is for employees and 1 for students:

Initiative #1
:
Financial Education Public Programmes

What it is:
 Fun weekend activity for the public, with financial education twist

Official description
: AKPK provides a range of public programmes throughout the year targeting various target segments like youth, women, entrepreneurs and other related groups.

The programmes are held to provide a set of skills and knowledge that allows an individual to make informed and effective decisions with regards to their financial resources.

—

Initiative #2
:
AKPK’s Online Learning portal (
power.akpk.org.my
)

What it is:
 Free financial courses! There is one course so far, a house-buying module. Available in English and Malay

Official description:
 AKPK’s learn.akpk.org.my portal is developed to provide financial education programmes online. The portal provides a peer to peer learning platform that is socially engaging (participants can participate in modular discussion forums), making the learning fun, empowering, engaging and trendy.

—

Initiative #3
:
Customised Financial Solution Programme – (Employees Wellness Programme)

What it is:
 A programme to help employees facing financial issues (which companies, I don’t know)

Official description:
 A customised financial solution programme is designed based on the assessment conducted amongst employees of some organisations to identify their financial issues that need to be addressed in order to promote productivity of employees at workplace.

The issues are addressed by providing financial education, counselling and debt management programmes.

—

Initiative #4
:
AKPK Financial Literacy Symposium

What it is:
 A big financial education-themed conference slash event

Official description:
 This symposium is one of AKPK’s efforts to promote financial literacy among Malaysians. The highlight will be the reporting of findings from AKPK’s recent survey among Malaysians followed by forums and other related research presentations. It is held biennially.

—

Initiative #5
:
Social Enterprise Literacy for Youth (SELFY)

What it is:
 Improving financial literacy among college and university students

Official description:
 The SELFY programme is conducted yearly amongst students of higher learning institutions, focused on providing educational experience that leaves them with positive associations with money and social change.

Students are given financial education and then provided a seed money to start an enterprise. The concept of SELFY is to earn, manage, save and give.

#7 – Permodalan Nasional Berhad (PNB)

There are 5 initiatives under PNB, of which 3 is for the public, and 2 is for schools:

Initiative #1
:
Minggu Saham Amanah Malaysia (MSAM)

What it is:
 A big financial education-themed conference slash event

Official description
: MSAM held annually since 2000 with the objective of educating the public on investment in unit trust, risk and return and financial planning. In addition, it is to educate the investors on where their money is invested by PNB.

—

Initiative #2
:
Seminar Pelaburan 360

What it is:
 Investment seminars

Official description:
 Daily seminars conducted by ASNB qualified financial planners at different locations to all segments of society on financial planning concepts.

PNB also has a whole video series in their Youtube. Sharing here Segment 1 Module 1:

—

Initiative #3
:
Kelab Pelaburan Bijak

What it is:
 Investing clubs in schools!

Official description:
 Aim to uplift the level of financial literacy among secondary school children. Currently, 155 schools have been selected to join the club.

—

Initiative #4
:
Kuiz Pelaburan PNB

What it is:
 An investment-themed quiz competition. The cash prize is quite lucrative!

 Image credit: Harian Metro

Official description:
 Quiz competition involving different categories on key concepts relating to investment, financial planning, unit trust and risk and return

—

Initiative #5
:
Fiesta Labur PNB

What it is:
 Fun weekend activity for the public, with financial education twist

Official description:
 An annual event organized by ASNB. It is an edutainment based investment programme. Through Fiesta Labur, the public will be able to gain knowledge on investment and financial planning through interactive and fun way of learning.

This event provides various activities and entertainment for the whole family in educating and creating awareness on the importance of financial planning in their daily lives.

—

That’s quite a lot of financial education initiatives, isn’t it? But you know, these are just activities and resources by government and government-linked agencies. There are even MORE financial seminars and websites and media from the private sector.

For example, most, if not all the insurance companies do their own financial literacy initiatives. So does the banks. And the companies providing investment services, across all sectors.

Then I also know the financial planning associations and the financial comparison platforms do financial education too. I’m sure I’m missing a few more here but I made my point, yes?

In short, learning opportunities are everywhere. Go look for them, and avoid the dodgy dodgy ones. If you lazy to go out, nah here are some
book recommendations
. Lazy to go book store? Nah
recommended personal finance websites
.

All the best and no more complaining government is not doing anything okay? It’s all up to our own effort now.


[TRANSCRIPT] Personal Finance Chit Chat with Hann and Suraya | Financial Literacy Month 2021

This is a transcript of the Personal Finance Chit Chat show, which aired live on 30 October 2021 during the Financial Education Network-organised
Financial Literacy Month 2021
 Finale. Hann of
RinggitPlus
 and myself answered audience-submitted questions, taken both prior to the event and during the show.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Financial Education Network (@myfenetwork)

The questions we answered were:

I am currently unemployed.
I cannot search for a job due to my mental health
. Is there any way to earn income from home as I want to pay for therapy? Thanks.
Could you talk about
the process of getting financial advisory services
, especially for middle class. If it’s necessary, as well as the rates in Malaysia?
Let’s say I’m an
LGBT person, what is the best way to make sure my partner gets the wealth they deserve
? Wasiat can’t get past Faraid? Is Hibah Takaful good?
Where do you keep your
 emergency and sinking funds
? And would you consider them part of your net worth?
Suraya, I love your content.
What do you think about BNPL?
 Thanks.
I only have personal loan and home loan,
how can I finish this loan super fast
? Can you give me good tips?
How to
 use credit card to pay another credit card
? How to get a 1% interest credit card.
Crypto, stocks or property,
what is best to invest
?
[On BNPL] So businesses are crazy for it because of the great potential profit, but
who’s going to protect consumers
 from these dangers? It seems like credit card 2.0, what can we do?
How do I know if I have
enough money to buy a property
? Any advice for fresh grads on how and when to buy property? The thought of being in debt scares me.
Adakah patut
Personal Loan dipanjangkan kepada 20 tahun
 kembali seperti dahulu, komitmen rendah, maka kuasa beli meningkat dan ekonomi grow?
Macam mana nak mencari
sumber dana dengan mudah
 yang kurang syarat dari institusi kewangan yang syarat ketat tanpa duit dan tak mampu bergerak untuk niaga?
Macam mana nak
uruskan kewangan dengan gaji bawah RM1300
?

You can go directly to the section you want below. Otherwise, you can also listen to the show – the video is embedded at the end of this article.

This transcript has been edited for clarity.

INTRODUCTION

Hann Liew:

Hi, good afternoon and welcome to today’s session, “Personal Finance Chit Chat” with Hann and Suraya, in conjunction with Financial Literacy Month 2021, organised by the Financial Education Network, a network that aims to provide financial education and support during this challenging time.

Hope everyone’s doing well this afternoon and staying safe. I’m Hann, co-founder and director of RinggitPlus, Malaysia’s number one financial marketplace. We’ve been operating since 2012 and served over a million customers for various financial products, including credit cards, loans, insurance, and wealth services. I’m also a licensed financial planner and over the past year RinggitPlus, my financial planning team and I have helped thousands of Malaysians with Personal Financing/ Financial Planning support.

Let’s first set the scene for this afternoon. Over the past 18 months, the COVID 19 pandemic has been quite damaging not just to our health and economy, but also to our personal money. In the most recent survey that we did at RinggitPlus the “RinggitPlus Malaysia Financial Literacy Survey 2021”, we discovered a few scary statistics that you Malaysians told us.

Over half or 56% of Malaysians told us that they can’t save at all or save less than RM500 a month. Almost half of Malaysians spend the same, or more than what they earn each month. And the scariest of all, which is, only 15% of Malaysians told us that they believe that their EPF balance will be enough for them to retire on. This is down from 30% last year. All this means we’re all hurting financially a little. We hope today, we can help a little by sharing some thoughts on various questions that you might have.

With me, I have a highly acclaimed personal finance writer, speaker and activist Suraya Zainudin. Suraya, why don’t you introduce yourself a little bit, and then what we’re going to be doing this afternoon.

Suraya Zainudin:

Thank you for the introduction. Hann. It’s really nice to be doing this second year in a row. I am a writer, speaker and founder of a personal finance website, RinggitOhRinggit.com. And I’m happy also to share that I’m as of now an associate financial planner, on my way to get my CFP certification.

Today, as Hann said, we are going to answer some questions that you, the audience, have submitted earlier this week. We asked you to submit on Slido and have received, as of this morning, about 34 questions. We’re going to go through them as much as possible.

For those of you tuning in from the platform, you will also see a Slido down below where you can also ask your questions, so upvote the ones that you want answered. Without further ado, we’ll just jump right into the questions. What do you think Hann, shall we go ahead?

Hann Liew:

Let’s do that. You ready, Suraya? Ladies first, you go ahead.

Q1 – I am currently unemployed. I cannot search for a job due to my mental health. Is there any way to earn income from home as I want to pay for therapy? Thanks.

Suraya Zainudin:

Alright. So the first question is by Tamara. Tamara says, “Hi, I am currently unemployed. I cannot search for a job due to my mental health. Is there any way to earn income from home as I want to pay for therapy? Thanks.”

What do you think, Hann?

Hann Liew:

Oh, really tricky question. For me, it really depends on your capacity to work. Mental health is a big topic these days. But I think the first thing you got to look for is do you have capacity to work. Whether it’s at the workplace, or at home, work tends to work. You have to do things and then get (the) compensation.

But if you know you’re feeling up for working, the first point of call is to find a job. But make sure that you can find one which gives you flexible hours. (Do) things like full remote work, (and work at) places where you feel comfortable to do work. So once you’ve determined, “Hey, I want to work from home. I’m comfortable doing that. Does a job allow me to do so?”

More and more employers these days are offering flexible working hours, full remote work, so be on the lookout for those. And obviously there are many other ways to make money which I will let Suraya answer a bit more. I’m sure you have to add something to that.

Suraya Zainudin:

Yes, Tamara, when I got your question, I spent the longest time doing research because I want to do you justice. Okay, so the way that I see it, mental health and financial health are super interrelated, and it’s a chicken and egg situation: Financial health will affect your mental health and your mental health will also be affected by your financial health.

First and foremost, I think your question is about, are there ways to earn income from home because you want to pay for therapy? And the answer is yes, definitely. A lot of people are
making money from home from online work
. I personally am doing that. However beyond that, I’m assuming that you have financial difficulties, so I want to point out a few resources that maybe you can use first.

The first one is called Better Help app. It’s a therapy app and a paid app, however, they are offering one month of free therapy for people. So you can claim one month, at least that’s something (EDIT: This promo expired unfortunately).

Number two is that there’s an organisation in Malaysia called MIASA. Malaysia – that stands for Mental Illness Awareness and Support Association. The website is
MIASA.org.my
. You can look through what are the activities and resources that are available. There’s also an initiative called
MindaKami
, which is also great at providing help for people who need mental health support.

Just remember that mental health is something that is ongoing and something that you will have to work on. It is a good idea for you and everyone else who is listening in to look for free ways to deal with your mental health issues. Look for free ways to cope: find support groups, exercise, do gratitude journaling, all of those.

No matter what, try not to go into unhealthy ways of coping with your mental health, for example, shopping. It will give you those dopamine, which you are really craving, but those may perhaps quickly spiral you into a worse financial situation.

So that’s what I have to say on the matter. Hann, and shall we move on to the next question?

Q2 – Could you talk about the process of getting financial advisory services, especially for middle class. If it’s necessary, as well as the rates in Malaysia?

Hann Liew:

Let’s do that. Thanks for the question, Tamara. Next question is from Izwan, quite highly voted also. And the question goes, “Hi, could you talk about the process of getting financial advisory services, especially for middle class. If it’s necessary, as well as the rates in Malaysia?” So he’s asking, How do I do it? Do I need it? How much it is?

I guess I should clarify first, before I pass to Suraya, we first have to differentiate between financial advisory and financial planning. It can get a bit confusing, but please follow me if you can. In Malaysia, Financial Advisory is a specific regulated profession and licensed by Bank Negara. And it’s largely, in fact it’s solely focused on insurance coverage, and the fact that it’s called Financial Advisor, because they can offer you insurance from many providers. So that’s quite handy.

That’s slightly different from Financial Planning, which is a little broader. It’s a profession that’s regulated by Securities Commission, rather than Bank Negara, because it also covers not just insurance, but investment, cash flow management, tax etc. So I’m guessing what you mean is Financial Planning, rather than Financial Advisory as it exists here in Malaysia. So that’s kind of the first thing I wanted to say to that.

In terms of whether it’s necessary or not, I think the most classic answer is it depends. But don’t think of it as, “Hey, I only need it when I’m rich”. Because even if you’re a middle-class person, you’re an M40, having a financial planner guide you through your journey might help you avoid making kind of very costly mistakes, which, in fact, pays for itself. And, you know, it’s actually a myth that financial planning is only for rich people or T20 people.

For example, and I’m a bit biased because we offer financial planning services ourselves. For a few hundred ringgit, you can get a very comprehensive financial plan, covering all kinds of areas of your life, Debt, Savings Investments, Retirement, Tax and Estate Planning, and you can do it entirely online.

That’s kind of long-winded, but hopefully, that helps. Suraya, what do you reckon?

Suraya Zainudin:

Sure, yes. So I would like to say that RinggitPlus’ Financial Planning Services go for a few hundred ringgit. Usually Financial Planning Services can go up to thousands. So RinggitPlus’ Financial Planning Services is one of the most affordable ones in the market, if not the most affordable.

But in addition to that, you can get Financial Planning Services for free one time a year, which is right now, during the Financial Education Month. If you notice in your virtual convention, there’s a section called Financial Planning and you can book a free session with licensed Financial Planners. So make sure to take advantage of that.

Like Hann said, you don’t have to be a T20 in order to start. You can even ask them specific questions, for example, “Can you review my insurance?” or, “What do you think of my investment portfolio right now?”, “What is your recommendation?” You can ask them specific questions like that.

Q3 – Let’s say I’m an LGBT person, what is the best way to make sure my partner gets the wealth they deserve? Wasiat can’t get past Faraid? Is Hibah Takaful good?

Suraya Zainudin:

So I’m gonna move on to the next question, which is sent by Anonymous. Anonymous asked, “Let’s say I’m an LGBT person, what is the best way to make sure my partner gets the wealth they deserve? Wasiat can’t get past Faraid? Is Hibah Takaful good?” So Anonymous, there are a few components to your question, I’m going to try and break them down.

If you are Muslim, there is a tool called Wasiat and it is not true that Wasiat cannot get past Faraid because, in the documentation, you can allocate a third to whomever you want. However, the big caveat is that the rest of the heirs must be agreeable to the “pecahan”, to the allocation.

So I’ve actually researched this topic quite a lot and
I have an article on it on Ringgit Oh Ringgit.
Your question about
hibah takaful
 and whether it is good – it is something that I would highly recommend to all Muslims, and not just for LGBT persons.

If you are a Muslim, if you have irresponsible family members, if you have loved ones who cannot get inheritance from your money, if you are a convert, and you have your non-convert parents or siblings that you want to leave money to, or if you have adopted children – they do not have any allocation under Faraid system, so definitely get Hibah Takaful because with Hibah Takaful you can allocate the beneficiary to whoever you want. You can even name them as the sole receiver of the money.

One nice thing about Hibah Takaful is that it is one of the most affordable tools for inheritance especially for Muslim people in this country. As a benchmark, about RM100 to 200 range, depending on your age and your gender and things like that, you can leave behind a cool let’s say RM500,000 to a million.

So I want to expand this question beyond LGBT person, to just whoever was listening in, who are worried that your loved ones may not get inheritance when you pass on.

Hann, do you have anything to add?

Hann Liew:

That was very, very, comprehensive, Suraya. I probably only have one last thing to add for Mr. or Ms. Anonymous. I think what you said is right, it’s not just for LGBT people. Iit’s for anyone who wants to give outside of the Faraid structure. It can be a friend, it can be a loved one of any kind.

Wanting to add I guess to what Suraya said about Hibah Takaful, also you might want to consider Hibah Amanah as well. If you have existing wealth elsewhere in cases like ASB or Tabung Haji, and you go, “Hey, look, can I give it to somebody who’s not within that Faraid kind of structure?” – consider Hibah Amanah, that pretty much means you nominate somebody under that scheme, your ASB or your Tabung Haji funds to whomever you’d like to be.

So Hibah Amanah is something to consider as well for people who have the wealth sitting there and they hope to give it to their loved ones.

Q4 – Where do you keep your emergency and sinking funds? And would you consider them part of your net worth?

Hann Liew:

Cool, let’s keep going. Next one is a classic one, which I think everyone should know. Also from Anonymous. So the next question is, “Where do you keep your emergency and sinking funds? And would you consider them part of your net worth?” I think this is a great question. And Suraya, why don’t you have a go?

Suraya Zainudin:

Oh, you taichi to me? Alright.

Hann Liew:

As in, I want to hear what you think, cause this is a very specific question, and where do you keep yours? So I’m curious to hear where you keep yours too.

Suraya Zainudin:

All right. Three months’ worth of expenses, I keep in my bank account, that’s for my day-to-day (expenses). The rest, I put them in my various liquid investments. Only a minority, I keep in illiquid investments.

The one inside the bank account is there because it’s for daily life. That’s my emergency fund. The rest I just put in ASB (and other liquid investments), because it’s just far enough for me to not use but easy enough for me to take just in case I need it. And yes, I do consider them as part of my net worth. How about you, Hann?

Hann Liew:

No same, yeah, same. Love that answer. It’s very obvious that you know exactly what to do with that. And I think for me, I would encourage you to do the same. So I keep mine in a slightly different place. And I’ll explain why in a second. There’s kind of two questions there, which is, “Where do you keep your stuff?” and “Would you consider it part of your net worth?”

“Where do you keep your emergency fund?” – I think is a good question. You mentioned three months, as a licensed Financial Planner, we certainly say three to six months is where you should be looking at for your expenses, so that if anything happens, you’re not worried for a large amount.

The next question people gonna ask usually, when they say once I say three to six months of your expenses is okay, where do I put this? And for me, I like to go principles-based. Principles-based meaning, I keep my emergency funds in three places. The three principles are: one, it has been liquid. Like you said, I need the money within a day or less.

Number two, it needs to be fairly low risk, which means I can’t take too much risk, I can’t be investing in kind of the stock market or cryptocurrencies or things like that.  Means if I put the money in today, it’s got to be a similar amount, tomorrow, next month, next year.

And third, and most important that most people forget about is that you should try and beat inflation even with your emergency funds. Because emergency funds just sitting there will be eroded by inflation, if you keep it under your pillow or something. So those three principles, liquid, low risk, beat inflation.

And there are many options. You mentioned a great one, which is ASB, especially the fixed price funds, perfect place to put (your emergency savings). Why? It’s low risk. It’s a bit lower recently, but you still beat inflation above 4%. And lastly, it’s fairly liquid, you can walk through a branch get your money. It’s a bit of a hassle, but you can still do it.

Another option, which I personally do is, I have a home loan with a flexi account feature. So I live in a home, I have a home loan on it, and a flexi account feature.  It’s a bit complicated, but basically what it means is if let’s say my home loan is RM400,000 ringgit, and I have say RM50,000 of emergency money, which I put in the current account, linked to the home loan, then my interest will only be charged on 350,000.

So that’s what that offset means. And that effectively means my emergency funds are earning the home loan interest rate, which is about 3.3%, which is lower than ASB but still pretty decent, still pretty liquid, I can take the money out any time.

So that’s where I keep my personal emergency funds. And I certainly consider them part of my net worth because it is money that we own.

Q5 – Suraya, I love your content. What do you think about BNPL? Thanks.”

Hann Liew:

Cool, good stuff. Let’s move on. The next question is going to be a firecracker one. You’ve got an Anonymous, “Suraya, I love your content. What do you think about BNPL? Thanks.” Yeah. So Suraya, what do you think about BNPL?

Suraya Zainudin:

Let me go on a rampage right now. Thank you Anonymous for asking this question. It is my belief that
BNPL or Buy Now Pay Later
 for people who are not familiar with it, there’s more bad than good.

For people who are hearing this term for the first time, BNPL or Buy Now Pay Later is basically a system where they allow people who don’t have credit card to pay for any item or services that they want using an installment system, usually between three and six months and you don’t need a credit card for it. So nice, right.

However, I believe that BNPL does more harm than good and the reason is that most items and services sold under BNPL are items that are considered wants and not needs. There’s barely anything on or related to health and safety services. It is mostly luxury items. It’s excessive consumption, things that are aspirational that are promoted.

And the second reason why I don’t really promote them or like them is because it is this trend that encourages people to borrow against their future. And borrowing against the future, those kind of tools already exist right now. You’re borrowing money to buy a house – that’s borrowing against the future; your future self’s ability to be able to pay off the loan. Or a car, you borrow now so that your future self will pay off the car. But you can sort of somewhat justify these things. Car, house, education, because those are things that can help you earn more money and to make a living.

How about with BNPL? Let’s see, if you buy a luxury item, how can you ever justify that? And when you allow this culture of borrowing against the future, what then is the incentive for employers to raise salary? Right?

So we have been talking about how in Malaysia, the cost of living is high, and salary is low. And when tools like this exist, that say, “Oh, you want what you want. So come let’s borrow money, and let’s help you to afford this so you can live the life that you want,” instead of actually prioritising, “Hey, if you want something, save up for it first before you get it”.

So that’s my two cents about it. And maybe something else, Hann, before I pass it over to you. BNPL is not unique to Malaysia. It’s been existing in other countries. I’m just gonna touch on some statistics. BNPL is already very, very popular in Singapore. In a 2020 study, 27% of people who use BNPL are worse off because of a BNPL purchase. 9% have paid a penalty for missing payments.

You don’t want to be like one of those who are not able to pay for it. Because I have now seen people who have taken excessive installments under BNP without realising it. So that’s my two cents. Hann, over to you.

Hann Liew:

I love that. For me, the ideas are good, but how it’s being executed may not be in line with how we want to promote in terms of Financial Literacy. So, my view on BNPL is very simple. I think the idea of BNPL is fantastic. It’s extremely inclusive. So right now, the ability to have kind of interest-free payments in a pre-BNPL world was the domain of high-income people with credit cards. There’s this amazing thing called EPP and then they made use of it. And then people who couldn’t qualify for those things were just left out of the entire system completely, which I feel by nature, doesn’t sound very inclusive.

And for me, I always love inclusion, I like things which will bring more people into the fold, to expose more people to kind of the various tools that are available to make Cash Flow Planning better. Most of them are interest-free, some of them are also fee-free. And they charge the merchants basically.

So the idea is great, but I sort of feel the execution of BNPL as a business is the one that we should be very aware of. The execution of BNPL is highly predatory. Meaning, exactly what you said, right? The idea is good, it’s actually very interesting, it’s inclusive, but it’s being used to encourage the wrong kinds of behaviours.

What I love to see is BNPL used for is for people who need things like, “I need a new washing machine. I need it today. I can’t afford it today, but I probably afford it over the next three or four months. What am I going to do? I can’t wash my clothes at home, etc.” These kinds of behaviours, I think, are fine. It’s the luxury good stuff that is being predatorily marketed to people now. But I guess for me, this happens everywhere. And if you ask me, I prefer inclusion rather than exclusion.

I’ll use a classic example for this. Even in the credit card world, you know, domain of the M40 and T20. Two-thirds to three-quarters of people don’t pay their credit cards on time. So even for supposed rich and educated people, they don’t do that right. So I don’t think we should be discriminatory towards people who are lower-income, who can’t qualify for a credit card and say, “No, therefore, you also shouldn’t, you definitely shouldn’t be getting BNPL service.”

What I think we should do is to look at it in totality, which is that these two products are great as tools, but are currently wrongly used and marketed. And we should be looking at it in totality, both these kinds of tools, perform similar functions. Both on the good side, as well as the predatory side.

I believe Bank Negara is, so that’s kind of what I hope to happen soon because BNPL is coming in fast right and coming hard for Malaysians. We just need to make sure we protect the most vulnerable people. So that’s my view. I’m not saying I love BNPL, I just think, as a tool it’s great. It’s just you know, as a tool knives are good, but they can hurt people too.

Suraya Zainudin:

Just a really quick one, I promise. You mentioned inclusion. It is okay for the whole inclusion thing not to include (debt), but that’s only my own personal view.

Q6 – I only have personal loan and home loan, how can I finish this loan super fast? Can you give me good tips?

Suraya Zainudin:

Next question, Anonymous asked, “I only have personal loan and home loan, how can I finish this loan super fast? Can you give me good tips?” So Hann, how do you finish a home loan and personal loan super fast?

Hann Liew:

Oh, if only I had a magic button to do that for you, dear Anonymous. If you do have a personal loan and a home loan, quite likely the personal loan interest would be a lot higher than your home loan. I can’t solve all your problems.

But what I can do is say look, if you’re willing to do a bit of kind of financial magic or financial engineering, you might want to consider using some of your home loan, increasing the balance a little bit, make sure it’s extremely low interest versus your personal loan, and clearing off your personal loan just like that. Because that way you’re trading in a high-interest loan, personal loans are currently somewhere between 5-10%, flat, or 9-18% on a home loan APR basis.

I can’t promise you it’ll be gone super fast. But at the very least, you’re going to be saving quite a lot of interest if you did that. So use the home loan, maybe do a top up and pay off the personal loan, and reduce your commitment as well as your long-term interest. So for me, that’s kind of one way I will look at it.

Now, if you don’t want to do that kind of financial magic, you could just focus paying off more than what you’ve committed to and therefore pay down faster. And if you ask me which one to pay down first, definitely the personal one first, because that’s likely to be high interest. That’s my view. And we do that a lot for customers at RinggitPlus. Suraya, what do you reckon? Anything to add?

Q7 – How to use credit card to pay another credit card? How to get a 1% interest credit card.

Suraya Zainudin:

No, nothing to add to that. That’s a perfect answer. So moving on. I think this is another one of your domain, Hann, “How to use credit card to pay another credit card? How to get a 1% interest credit card.” I think this person maybe means, does the 1% interest credit card exist, and how to use a credit card to pay another credit card. That’s called a balance transfer credit card. RinggitPlus offers this kind of things as well, yes? Do you want to explain?

Hann Liew:

Sure, sure, thanks Suraya. I mean, RinggitPlus, we are quite known for credit cards. We do much more than that, obviously, but the first thing we’re known for is you know, expertise in credit cards, so I can very clearly answer these two things.

Number one, how do you use a credit card to pay another one? Very simply, two ways. Number one is called Balance Transfer. What happens is you apply for a new credit card. Within that credit card application, kind of 3, 4, 5, pages in, you see something called a Balance Transfer Application, where you put your old credit card with the balance on it, the old credit card’s number, and the amount that you want to transfer over to this new credit card.

So maybe you’re incurring interest at kind of 15-18% a year on your balance right now, you apply for a new card and you transfer the balance over. There are all kinds of promos happening now you can get it for 0%, maybe with a small fee. And then you have to buy yourself time to actually pay it off and pay much, much lower interest, if not none at all, for the first 6 to 12 months. So that’s one way to do it.

The second way to do it, and a lot of credit card companies are starting to promote this is a kind of cash instalment on the credit card, which I would say, look, beware of this, have a look at the rates. It is low, say lower than 3-4%. Yeah, that’s totally fine. It’s a lot better than paying 15-18% on your current balance. So you can take off a small amount on your new credit card and pay off yourself without having to do this kind of financial engineering, apply for things and get it approved.

The next question is a tricky one. How do I get a 0% interest rate credit card? Good question. I prefer to get a 0% interest rate credit card, not a 1% interest rate credit card. If you pay off your balance in full every month, you can get a 0% credit card. I know it’s probably not the answer you wanted but credit cards can be 0%. So why not make use of it?

And if you say hey, look, I need more than 45 days, make use of things like those balance transfer programmes, get your interest costs down, or, you know, things like EPPs, where you’ve got a large purchase, whether it’s kind of a washing machine or a fridge, or a car that you can get on a credit card. Sure, no problem. 0%, sounds good to me.

What do you reckon, Suraya? Any other tricks you want to add to that?

Suraya Zainudin:

No, just a final reminder for everyone listening to always pay your credit card balance in full every month if you want to avoid that interest because (15-18% interest) is a lot.

Q8 – Crypto, stocks or property, what is best to invest?

Suraya Zainudin:

Alright, the next question. George asked, “Crypto, stocks or property, what is best to invest?” Okay Hann, if you don’t mind, I’m going to take this one first. I want to say this is not financial advice, but obviously this is financial advice. So what I’m going to say instead is take what you like, don’t take what you don’t like, (it’s just) another person’s opinion.

So my opinion is that you can try any investment you want, any opportunity you want, no matter how risky it is, as long as you only use 1-5% of your assets. I think that this is way better than the conventional advice. You know, learn everything that you can, before you do the investment and things like that.

I will tell you many, many reasons why you should do this approach. Number one is because you will minimise your total loss. Even if you lose everything from any high-risk investment, you will only lose between 1-5% of your assets.

Number two, there’s a bias for action. More often than not, doing is better than not doing. And many people who say, “Oh, you have to learn first”. Even experts right now, top experts, crypto experts, property experts are learning new things all the time, even years into entering that investment. So there’s no possible way a beginner can learn everything before they start. So start first.

Number three is that you will learn better when you start a new investment. You will now read The Edge, read books, you will want to learn more about it, you’ll be more motivated. Number four, experience is always better than theory, you can read all you want but it’s only by learning by doing that you will learn the emotional rollercoaster that is associated with the investment.

Number five, and this is an important one: your research might suck. The information that you get from friends and family, is biased. Let’s say you have parents or you have whoever else saying that, “Oh property is good,” “Crypto is good,” and “Gold is good,” and “Stocks is good.” The reason why they say that is because by you getting the same investment it will help to maintain the price, it will keep getting higher.

Let’s say you’re the type of person who find information by Googling them. Do you really think that all those information on the first page of Google just by magic? There are digital marketers whose job is to put this information where your eyeballs are looking at. And this also includes things like online forums. I know of companies that plant fake reviews of investments, or whatever forums in order to mislead people or to hype it up more than they should.

Number six, and this is also a very important one, it will filter out a lot of scams. Chances are, if you only use 1-5% of your assets, it’s a smallish amount. Let’s say you have RM10,000, 1% of that is maybe like what RM100?

And scammers, they love to give you all this FOMO, like, “This is a once in a lifetime opportunity”, “Oh you have RM50,000, great, our package to buy in is RM50,000”. You won’t want to gamble all of your money, all of your life savings away. That’s the main worry that I have when people jump into any investment.

So in short, do any investment that you want, but limit your losses. Hann, how about you?

Hann Liew:

That was a lot. George, great question. That’s kind of the million-dollar or in some cases, multimillion-dollar question for most people. You know, as a licenced financial planner, it’s hard for me to say, “Hey, look to do this, this or this,” without knowing much more than just the question. But what I would say is, I can share with you a few concepts, which should help you in your decision making.

 I think what Suraya suggested is a very extreme version of the barbell strategy. Keep most of it in safe stuff. I think that’s a great way to start if you’re a beginner. If you’re looking for investment advice, I think the key is to remember, nobody should be giving you investment advice, without first knowing your circumstances. So in this example, I can’t tell you what to do.

But what I can share with you is a few things that should help you along your way, regardless of where you are. Number one, look at what your position is today. And then once you’ve done that, I want you to remember one word, which is diversification. So if you’re entirely in property right now, maybe consider investing outside just property. That’s what diversification means.

I’ve got a client who had all his money in the Malaysian stock market and asked me, “Hey, is this a good investment? Should I invest in property? Should I invest in all these kinds of things?” Same question. And what I told him was like, “Look, you’ve got quite a lot in stocks already. Try diversifying. Move across more asset classes and build a portfolio which is well diversified.”

So regardless of what the correct answer is, and honestly, there’s no correct answer, focus on diversifying. So if you have a lot in property, go to stocks, go to other things. If you’re a lot in stocks, go yet again, go to other things. That’s one.

Second, there is no such thing as the best investment. Markets move, financial markets, asset markets, like even crypto markets move in cycles. You might have heard the terms bull market and bear market, expansion, recession, these things impact prices of things. And nobody, I repeat, nobody can tell you where the prices are going tomorrow or next year. They can guess but you know, the guess is almost as good as yours.

So the trick there is not to time the market in terms of a specific asset class, “I think crypto is good right now,” or “I think property is good right now.” It’s about making sure you’ve got enough exposure to many things. And then consistently investing throughout the cycle. Whether it’s through a bear market, you’re putting money in regardless.

For me, with those two kinds of mindsets, you can’t go wrong. Diversify, and be consistent with your investing and yeah, feel free to experiment like what Suraya says, experiment with and try it out. So that’s the only thing I would add to that very, very scary question.

Suraya Zainudin:

One last bit I want to add to that is do all of your speculative investments
in addition
 to your consistent ones every single month. Every single month, make sure you’ve already put money in EPF, already put money in all your other safe investments and then whatever is leftover, you can play around. Consider it your fun or even entertainment money.

Q9 – [On BNPL] So businesses are crazy for it because of the great potential profit, but who’s going to protect consumers from these dangers? It seems like credit card 2.0, what can we do?

Suraya Zainudin:

Alright, the next question is from Ruiz Asri, who’s behind the super cool
The Personal Finance Challenge
 YouTube channel. Another question about the BNPL. “So businesses are crazy for it because of the great potential profit, but who’s going to protect consumers from these dangers? It seems like credit card 2.0, what can we do?”

Earlier in this talk, we have already spoken at length about BNPL and how it is predatory, but also promotes financial inclusion. To answer your question Ruiz, right now, because it is not regulated, it is kind of up to individuals like me, like you Hann, like personal finance content creators out there who are talking about these dangers.

I have seen many people actually speaking out about this and telling people about the dangers. Especially for Muslims, reminding each other that the majority of BNPLs are promoting Riba and Riba is haram. There’s only one BNPL company that is Shariah-compliant, so if you must, then pick the Shariah-compliant option.

Q10 – How do I know if I have enough money to buy a property? Any advice for fresh grads on how and when to buy property? The thought of being in debt scares me.

Hann Liew:

Okay, I think the next question is from Nadia. And we’ll probably answer this one and then look to move to the live questions just to see what’s on there. There’s quite a lot there.

Nadia’s question is, “How do I know if I have enough money to buy a property? Any advice for fresh grads on how and when to buy property? The thought of being in debt scares me.” Nadia, it scares most of us. Suraya, I want to know what you think, I want to hear what your thoughts are on this. Because this sounds exactly like the kind of advice that you tend to get asked a lot.

Suraya Zainudin:

You know, the other day on Twitter, somebody was asking, “Do you have any goals to achieve before the age of 30?”, and many people actually answered, “House and a car”. And both of these things are liabilities. And it is extremely, how to say… Not cannot but you have to be very, very, very realistic.

Remember, for a house in Klang Valley, you’re talking about at least, depending on the house price on the market, at least RM1000-1500 or RM2000 per month. And then a car is at least RM500 per month. That’s already RM2000+ that you have to allocate, just to pay off these two huge commitments per month. So do you want to rush? But if you do, the best thing is to think 2, 3, 4, 5, times before you commit to these things.

But if you are already in the situation, then try and see how you can work on this asset. For example, if you already own a house, try to rent out some room so you can reduce your commitments a little bit or try and rent out your car or use it towards a side income so you can use it to pay off your financial commitments.

For many, many people, I understand that these two things symbolises adulthood, and I don’t blame them for wanting it. But you have to remember that, considering the Department of Statistics says that in 2020, the median salary is just roughly RM2000 per month. Do you really want to spend it all on just these two items?

Hann Liew:

I love that. Because for me, it’s a step away from just thinking about, “this is how you should live your life”. And I think most people should look at how they live their life based on what they want, rather than what society demands. But I guess Nadia is asking for number-driven tip. Let me try and fill that in. I love your view, by the way, but I’ll try and see if we can help Nadia, just be explicit in answering the question, “How do you know if you have money to buy property?”

Very simply, two tests. Test number one, do you have at least 10% for down payment? I know there are plenty of offers out there that say zero down payment that kind of stuff. But for me it’s a good test to not just delay that gratification but to really put yourself in a strong financial footing.

Do you have enough for at least a 10% down payment plus maybe 1-2% more for the property transaction costs and stamp duties and stuff like that? So if you’re looking for a RM300,000-400,000 property, you have at least RM35,000-45,000. Good test, right? That’s when you know, okay, I can start thinking about it.

The second test is when you do think about property and then you look at the mortgage, home loan or 90% of that remaining balance, is the instalment going to be more than 30% of your income? If it is, you’re probably going to be overstretching yourself. Yet again, I know many banks are saying, “Don’t worry, you can loan up to 50-60% percent of your money, of your income.”

But for me as a financial planner, most people that I’ve spoken to and analysed who are well in control of their money have it way below 30%. Most people I speak to who don’t have their money in control, are way above that. So for me, that’s why the 30% Rule really makes a difference. So you know, RM1000 a month, is that 30% of salary? If it’s more than that, you might want to reconsider, you’re probably not ready. And yes, the thought of debt should scare you.

Last thing I want to add is, I think of cars and houses differently. Cars are utility, (it’s) an asset which depreciates. Housing is likely, but not guaranteed, an appreciating asset. And basically you’re locking in inflation, you’re letting inflation work on your side rather than against you if you’re renting. So that’s kind of a benefit. The cost of doing that is lack of liquidity, you’re tied down to one house, it’s really difficult to dispose of it takes you a year. So you trade in a bit of flexibility. But you do lock in the fact that you protect yourself from future rent increases, because of inflation, etc. And you’re in control of your own kind of living costs, essentially.

So Nadia, do those two tests. If you pass, then you’re probably ready. Then the question you should ask, which is Suraya’s point, is do you even need it? Or do you actually just want it? So that’s a couple of tests there. Good question.

Q11 – Adakah patut Personal Loan dipanjangkan kepada 20 tahun kembali seperti dahulu, komitmen rendah, maka kuasa beli meningkat dan ekonomi grow?

Suraya Zainudin:

This question is an interesting one, Mr. Muhamad Firdaus is asking, “Adakah patut Personal Loan dipanjangkan kepada 20 tahun kembali seperti dahulu, komitmen rendah, maka kuasa beli meningkat dan ekonomi grow?” Should personal loans be lengthened to 20 years, so purchasing power increases and the economy grows? Hann, this is a tough one, what say you?

Hann Liew:

Very tough and for me personally I vote for no. One of the great things that the Bank Negara has done in the last 10-15 years has been to control or put regulations around these kinds of personal loans, the same kind of “bad mindset” that we were talking about with BNPL earlier, which is encouraging consumers to do things which are not beneficial to them (and) predatory marketing done by lenders.

I think, by nature, a personal loan is for personal expenses. If there are things that you want to buy which are asset-based, to increase your income or increase your wealth, there are loans available already. You’re taking home loans to increase your wealth by buying a home. ASB financing, you increase your wealth by getting ASB. For increasing your income we have PTPTN.

Personal Loans are typically used for personal consumption which I’m not in favour of, honestly. And the second reason is because in terms of financing, (personal loans have) the highest interest, higher than car loans and home loans. So I would say no for those two reasons. What do you reckon?

Suraya Zainudin:

Same answer. I’m just going to translate it for the benefit for Encik Firdaus over there. Encik Firdaus, apa yang Encik Hann cakap tadi ialah, sebaiknya personal loan, tidak wajar untuk dipanjangkan. Banyak sebabnya, tapi salah satu sebab ialah dia memudaratkan kita sebab interest dia sangat, sangat, sangat tinggi. Bayangkan kalau dipanjangkan ke 20 tahun, nanti interest dia sebenarnya sudah melebihi jumlah asal barang tersebut.

Q12 – Macam mana nak mencari sumber dana dengan mudah yang kurang syarat dari institusi kewangan yang syarat ketat tanpa duit dan tak mampu bergerak untuk niaga?

Suraya Zainudin:

Okay, so we move on to the next question, also actually in Malay but a very popular question, “Macam mana nak mencari sumber dana dengan mudah yang kurang syarat dari institusi kewangan yang syarat ketat tanpa duit dan tak mampu bergerak untuk niaga?” How to find sources of financing, with less terms and conditions if we have health problems?

Hann Liew:

I think Encik Aziz wants to start a business, and from what I can tell, he’s having trouble finding financing. There are many sources of financing for new businesses these days, especially for small businesses. You don’t have to take a loan, that’s not the only thing you can do. Lots of grants are available for small business, especially with the latest PENJANA, PEMULIH and PEMERKASA plans from the government. So that’s one.

Second, if you’re looking for financing, there are actually many sources outside of banks that you can get. So be sure to find those that are regulated right by Bank Negara and SC. There’s things like P2P players, which can help you source from the public, that’s quite useful. Or you know, ECF if you’re willing to give up some of your business equity. Crowdfunding is another way to do it. Many ways other than just going to a bank. What do you reckon, Suraya? You’re a small business owner. Any tips for Encik Aziz?

Suraya Zainudin:

Maybe satu je. I just want to add on here, untuk sesiapa yang dekat sini yang nak mencari sumber kewangan, sumber income (tapi tak tau nak buat apa) boleh contact satu agency ni, nama dia
Institut Keusahawanan Negara
 yang ada organise webinar, workshop.

Banyak jenis cara untuk dapatkan punca pendapatan, tak semestinya online ada juga offline dan juga bengkel-bengkel yang boleh masuk untuk belajar. Jadi, daripada mereka juga boleh tanya dimana boleh dapat dana kalau nak kembangkan bisnes kecil yang kita ada. Okay, so that’s my contribution from there.

Q13 – Macam mana nak uruskan kewangan dengan gaji bawah RM1300?

Suraya Zainudin:

Let’s move on to the next one. I think this one is the final one that we can do Hann, before we end the session. So this question is asked from Nur: “Macam mana nak uruskan kewangan dengan gaji bawah RM1300?” Let me expand that to, “how do we manage our income, our financial life, with a small salary?” What do you say, Hann?

Hann Liew:

What I’d say is, the obvious statement is that we can’t change the fact that structurally in Malaysia, salaries, average salaries, starting salaries are low. That’s kind of a macro thing. As an individual, we can’t change that. Maybe through a little bit of activism, call your MP, etc, you can do that. But for your own self it’s difficult (to change things).

So the only thing I would say is look, find whatever ways to increase your income. So that’s hopefully something that you can focus on other than just save, save, save. I’m not saying get a second job. I’m saying, hey, look like how do I increase my skills? How to increase my marketability in the open market, increase my salary? Can I do anything extra, not just for my employer, but for myself, that helps me increase my income?

But for me, regardless of what income level you’re in, right, there are two main ways to look at how to, I guess uruskan kewangan or, or manage your budget. In terms of saving there are very easy, pain-free ways to save. So for example, if you’re finding that you’re spending quite a lot on housing and transport why not figure out a way to not do that? You might have to inconvenience yourself a little, move closer to your workplace, then you don’t need a car, for example. Live closer to your workplace and save.

And second, can you live below your means regardless of what salary level you’re in? So for example, if you’re earning RM3000 a month. Can you live like you’re earning RM2000. Can you challenge yourself to do that? That’s the kind of thing that puts control in your hands rather than anyone else’s. Like, the government should do something for me, the country should do something for me. But can I live like somebody who’s earning RM2000? And I’ll save the difference. And I know, it’s tough to do. But that’s just the mindset that you can have.

And this applies regardless of whether it’s RM3000, RM1500 and “I only earn RM1300” like you said. Can you live like somebody who’s earning RM1100? That’s RM200 (a month). Can you do that for your financial future? You reap the benefits of doing that, nobody else. So hopefully, that gives you a bit of encouragement.

(There are) two ways: increase your income as much as you can and have a deflation mindset in your in your life. Which is, can I live on less, and still be happy? Knowing that I’m sacrificing for myself and nobody else. Suraya, does that make sense to you? And would you like to add to that?

Suraya Zainudin:

II like what you say about there’s so much that we can do for activism, and we should definitely hold our politicians accountable. They’re supposed to take care of their citizens. However, don’t let them take more time than you should. Spend maybe like five minutes being angry, and then back to relying on yourself. Because at the end of the day, you (can only rely on yourself and) can’t budget your way out of poverty.

However, my addition to that is your strongest resources right now is your access to community support. So wherever that you can find help, find help. There are people who are doing so many different kinds of various kinds of creative ways to both decrease expenses and to increase income. For example, renting together with a bunch of friends in order to keep accommodation expenses super low, or share your car with family members to keep transportation costs super low. But beyond that, you have no choice but to first and foremost, rely on yourself. So don’t complain and then not do anything after you complain.

 We are nearing the end of our session today. Do you want to give your final word before we wrap it up?

CONCLUSION

Hann Liew:

Yep, sure. I think this has been really as always very enjoyable. I think personal finance should not be just lots of theory, lots of coats with shirts and ties, talking down to people. It should be really answering people’s genuine questions and uncertainties and helping solve problems. That’s exactly what we do at RinggitPlus. So hopefully, check it out. But for me, I think it’s been a really tough year and a half. And not just for the country. But for us personally. And our personal money.

I hope you guys have learned quite a bit about money stuff, not just financial theories, but money things from myself and Suraya over the past hour. From the organisers side, there will be a pop quiz right after this session. There’ll be heaps of lucky draw prizes, so have a go at the quiz. Hopefully, some of the answers we gave should help you with those.

And thanks so much for listening. Never give up on yourself. You can do it. The power is in your hands to make a change to your own financial future. Back to you, Suraya, for some last words.

Suraya Zainudin:

Yes, my last word for today is just to keep doing what you need to improve your finances. We’re not promising any quick fixes. It’s going to be super hard before it’s going to be easy, but it can and will be easy and you can make your own luck.

I’m noticing that we have some questions related to insurance so any of you who are interested to learn more about insurance at 2:30, there’s a session called, “What Is General Insurance and Why Is it Important For Me?” so learn about general insurance later, right after this.

And then at 4pm, we have a session called “Kepentingan Takaful dan Insuran dan Program Voucher Perlindungan Tenang”. So for those of you who consider yourself as part of the B40 community, please attend that one because the government is giving out
free vouchers for you to be insured
.

Alright, so that’s all from me and also from Hann. Thank you again for joining us today. Sorry to everyone who we couldn’t answer today. We have time limitations but feel free to reach out to us online. And thank you for supporting the Financial Education Network and also the Financial Literacy Month. So see you soon, next year, hopefully. Take care everyone.


3 Places to Find A Financial Planner in Malaysia

Here’s something I observed, after being in the personal finance space for a while: everyday Malaysians want more guidance in their money management from an unbiased professional (aka not agent). But most people don’t know where to find a financial planner, or even start the process.

I got you. Here are 3 places to find and hire a professional financial planner in Malaysia. #1 is the cheapest option (ie FREE). I also included the kinds of questions you can ask your financial planner at the end of this article.

#1 – Through free consultation at InvestSmart’s #FinPlan4U event

Cost: Free

The first method is to let the universe pair you up with your fated financial planner (jk jk but actually kinda true).
The public can book a one-to-one financial planning consultation under the #FinPlan4U initiative, which is completely FREE.

Every year, Securities Commission Malaysia holds the public education event InvestSmart, which includes a collaboration with the
Financial Planning Association of Malaysia (FPAM)
 and
Malaysia Financial Planning Council (MFPC)
.

The only catch is the event only happens once a year, and if you missed it, you missed it, you have to wait for next year, usually around Quarter 4. The poster looks something like this:

I attended a session back in 2018 and had a good experience with my assigned financial planner, and I’d recommend you take advantage of this initiative too – if you like your financial planner’s vibe, you can proceed to hire them, but if not you can use the other options in this list.

#2 – From financial planner/content creator hybrids

 Cost: Varies. RM2000++ is a good starting point. Expect higher fees for complicated financial situations, or if you are a high net worth individual

Nowadays, there is more financial content in Malaysia than ever before, produced from konon-terer personal finance bloggers like myself to financial companies to financial planner/content creator hybrids (and more).

While I believe ANYONE can and should talk about money and personal finance, the general rule of thumb you can use is to prioritise financial advice from financial planner/content creator hybrids over anyone else. They are much less likely to overclaim/oversell financial products and services.

Who are these Financial planner/content creator hybrids, you ask? They are people who offer financial planning as a service and choose
 inbound marketing strategies
 to get clients, instead of outbound marketing.

(Simplistically, inbound marketing = clients chase you; outbound marketing = you chase clients.)

In Malaysia, some notable financial planner/content creator hybrids include:

KC Lau (the OG)

Pakdi
 (Malay language)

Stev Yong of Wealth Vantage Advisory, who also runs top personal finance website
MyPF.my

Farah Adira

Saidah Asilah Abdul Shukor

Ikhwan

I’m sure there are more but these are the names I can think of atm. I admire them for creating free beneficial financial content and prioritising their audience. If some of those audience members turned to customers, that’s a win-win situation all around.

P/s – if you’re a (licensed) financial planner/content creator hybrid yourself, please comment and I’ll add you to the list.

P/s – Reminder than while I
completed all 4 modules of Certified Financial Planning course
, I am NOT a financial planner. So prioritise their advice over mine, too.

#3 – Through SmartFinance.my platform

Cost: Varies. RM2000++ is a good starting point.  Expect higher fees for complicated financial situations, or if you are a high net worth individual

If you prefer to search for your own financial advisor, you totally can at
SmartFinance.my
, the platform to find and book financial planners.
Financial Planning Association of Malaysia (FPAM)
 is behind SmartFinance.my, so it’s legit.

The cool thing is you can select financial planners based on location (if you want face-to-face consultation), language (English, Mandarin, Bahasa Malaysia, Cantonese, Hokkien, Tamil) and fees.

Even cooler is you can select your financial planner based on their specialisations, such as:

Emergency Savings

Estate Planning

Comprehensive Plan

Health Care Planning

Financial Security

Credit Protection

Child Planning

Retirement Planning

Succession Planning

Family Office

Child Tertiary Education Planning

General Accumulation

Wealth & Investment Portfolio Management

Islamic Financial Planning

Cash Flow Management

Wealth Protection

Estate (Will, Trust and Power of Attorney) Planning and Implementation

Ok, those are the 3 places to find financial planners in Malaysia. Now, what to ask them? Lots, actually.

What to ask your financial planner

Here is a non-exhaustive list of questions to ask your financial planner:

Am I overpaying for house loan/car loan/insurance

I want to buy a car/house/something expensive. Can I afford it?

How to lower my monthly commitments

Is there a better debt repayment strategy I can use

Is my investments and asset allocation good enough

How can I lower fees for financial products/services I use (investment, etc)

Are there better insurance out there more suitable or affordable for me

What other insurance do I need

What estate planning tools do I need and how do I go about it

Can I afford to retire with my current contribution

How much should I earn and save to retire early in Malaysia

Should I pay of my PTPTN loan with my savings

And more. If you have exhausted online resources and still can’t find answers, then it’s time for you to hire a financial planner for professional advice.

My unsolicited advice – Even if you think you’re good at this money thing, you could also hire them to confirm that yes, you’re doing the right thing. There’s peace of mind in knowing you’re on the right track.

Where to find retirement planner in Malaysia

You can find a retirement planner in all of the options above. Just let your financial planner know about your retirement goals and they’ll chart your current progress and suggest an optimised and more efficient method to get there.

Where to find Islamic Financial Planner in Malaysia

You can find Islamic Financial Planner in all the options above. If they have IFP in their name, that means they are Islamic Financial Planner.

However, you should also know that financial planner and Islamic financial planner is like, 90% similar. Chances are your financial planner will be able to advise you on Islamic financial planning too, or know where to find the information you need.

Protip for Muslims – Do ask your financial planners about
Hibah, Wasiat, Takaful
 and other Syariah-compliant financial products and services.

The
Hibah Takaful
 instrument, for example, can help you leave an inheritance to non-Muslim loved ones, and to female family members who may be financially abandoned by male relatives after your passing.

I said what I said.

Where do you get your financial advice from?

There’s nothing wrong with doing DIY research and getting financial advice from friends, family and companies. But you must know MOST advice out there is biased:

Someone who made money from
property
 will tell you property investment is a good idea

The dude who made money from the
stock market
 will tell you investing in stocks is awesome

That person who made money from
cryptocurrencies
/
digital assets
 will say it’s the best

A
wealth planner
, also a unit trust agent (representing one company) will tell you unit trusts are the best investments

A
life advisor
, also an insurance/takaful agent (representing one company) will only recommend products from their company

Not to mention
network marketers
 (MLM and Ponzi), scammers, high-risk-high-reward opportunists and self-proclaimed financial gurus who have totally bastardised the phrases ‘financial freedom’ and ‘financial independence’ until they now become red-flag phrases instead

Financial planners, on the other hand, are the best possible
professional
 option. They are bound by Code of Ethics where they first and foremost serve you, the client, and not their financial interest (ie commissions).

Btw, ‘Financial planner’ is a protected term. It is NOT the same as wealth planner or life advisor. Not everyone can use the CFP title – one needs to complete the
Certified Financial Planning
 course plus pay yearly membership to FPAM to call themselves a financial planner in Malaysia.

Any of you have hired a financial planner in Malaysia before? Why did you select them? How was your experience like? Share with us in the comments section 🙂