Reading through The Star today, I found this article.

It looks like times are tough these days when new schoolbags are a rare commodity. I would say that when I was in primary school, a new bag, shirt, shoes and stationary were always a motivator to attend the 1st day of the school year.

I never really gave it a thought. This article written by my friend, Dr Azmi Mohd Tamil might be able to give you some insight on the issue : http://www.palmx.org/mambo/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=183&Itemid=39

In this particular time of economic uncertainty, there will always be parties making profit. It is currently a buyers market and ca$h is King.

So, some people ask me, what can they do for a short to mid term savings alternative compared to keeping in the FD or for those who have their ASB account FULL to the brim  (i.e. less than 10 years). Based on some recent appointments, the concept that I put forward has been widely accepted though not all.

Its quite a nice alternative, especially if you have babies in the house.

Please email me for further details.

drnaz926@gmail.com

Catch the live telecast at 3pm today on TV or radio. Hope there will good news to come.

______________________

The Star Online, 13 AUG 2008

The 2009 federal budget, which will be presented in Parliament on Aug 29, is the most challenging one in recent years, being formulated under tough macroeconomic conditions. CIMB Economics Research looks at some of the possible highlights of the budget strategy for next year

ALTHOUGH the Malaysian economy held up pretty well in the first half of 2008, higher energy costs and soaring food prices will sap the purchasing power of households and restrain consumption over the coming quarters.

<read more here>

I received an SMS this morning from a prominent academician. It read “got the offer to work in Brunei…”

So, the question for him was, is it worth to go all the way there and quit all that he has going here in the local academic arena. Well, there are so many factors to consider. Salary (way better over there), lifestyle, infrastructure, recognition, future plans, relocating the entire family, long distance travel, unfinished financial commitments (outstanding loans).. etc.

So its a major decision to make. There will always be pros and cons in any major decision AND along with it comes a financial impact, not only on the trasferee but also on the others (family) involved in the transfer. Sometimes a change of atmostphere and environment is good but (most of the time) only with the assurance of the ability to return back to the current state.

However, in an irriversible situation, more consequences might be at stake…

Here is a simple writeup on Brunei from Wikipedia : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brunei

I was at my uncle’s house the other day and we were debating why his bro in law who lives in a FELDA settlement has the ability to pay almost everything in cash compared to him. Among others, this in law of his has a 10 acre plot filled with palm oil trees that has the ability to rake in a 5 figure monthly income.

Apart from that, together with a small group of settlers, they have managed to run some small businesses/joint venture in the field of transportation and trading goods which allows them to enjoy a passive income. Currently their land is fully owned, they do not have debts and have a very large house to accommodate all 12 family members comfortably.

My uncle on the other hand has 3 houses on his plate but all have a mortgage with the banks. The current rental income is not even sufficient to pay off the monthly installments due to an outskirt location, low amount of down payment, BLR going up and many other reasons. On top of that, he also has to pay for 4 cars that the family his using.

Of course, you just cannot compare apple to apple of these 2 real life cases due to inflation in the city being higher that that of rural areas and even a trip to the office might include passing through 3 tollbooths over 1 landed highway, 1 elevated highway and 1 underground tunnel that is supposed to be ’smart’ .. haha!

And in the rural areas, i.e. in this case the FELDA settlement, its quite impossible that you pass by a ‘TESCO’, ‘ALAMANDA’,'Dunkin Donuts’, McD Drivethru or even a ‘7E’ on the way home from the ‘office’. That too does in a way ’suck up’ our available spendable cash in hand. What’s more, not many shops or food outlets in the settlement accepts a ‘Mastercard’, ‘Visa’ or ‘Diners’ , so, there is surely nothing to worry at the end of the month regarding a statement from the credit card companies.

So, is it an issue of habit OR environment OR the human lust for material possessions ?

Don’t you really wish you did? It really pisses me off that some people could even have the heard to rip off an old lady’s whole life savings, money that she earn with her own sweat and tears !

These idiot ‘daylight robbers’ normally go for those who live on the outskirts and are in their golden years. They are considered easier to be ‘convinced’.

Not all of them though because I know 1 Tan Sri in his 70’s who refused to be bothered but the
scam artist was did succeed to enter his home and play the scam :

Scene 1 : You don’t need to pay & just scratch the card.
Scene 2 : You ‘WON’ !!!
Scene 3 : The scam artist calls his ‘manager’
Scene 4 : The scam ‘manager’ from the ‘HQ’ who happens
to be ‘passing by’ arrives in just 5 mins.
Scene 5 : They request a deposit ‘management fee’ for the car/house/whatever
Scene 6 : bye bye money, hello newspaper !

Wednesday November 28, 2007

Woman duped of life savings in scam

JOHOR BARU: A woman in her 60s was duped of her life savings of RM109,000 in a scratch-and-win scam.

The woman from Kluang was promised a car and paid the money in four instalments. Instead, she got about 13 electrical items.

Mengkibol assemblyman Gan Ping Sieu said the woman received a vacuum cleaner, two air-conditioning units, two home theatre systems, a washing machine, a massage chair, two-foot massage units and electrical gas cookers.

“I think all these items are worth not more than RM30,000,” he said, adding that her ordeal started in April and has taken a toll on her health.

Gan said he advised the woman’s family to lodge a report with the state domestic trade and consumer affairs department and also with the police.

National Consumer Complaints Centre (NCCC) director Darshan Singh, when contacted in Kuala Lumpur, said:

“Raids and seizures alone are not enough as every day we get between three to four complaints in the Klang Valley alone.

“What about people from other parts of the country or even those who choose not to report?”

He said scams like this were now tarnishing the country’s image.

“The Government should also use the emergency ordinance and detain the leaders or bosses behind these powerful syndicates,” he said, adding that a memorandum on how to battle scratch-and-win scams was submitted to the ministry last month.

He said last year, out of the 18,345 complaints received by NCCC, 1,499 were on direct sales companies mainly involved in scratch-and-win competitions.

“We hope the public will continue to send us as many complaints as possible, so we can forward them to the Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Ministry for action.

Those with information can contact the NCCC at 03-7877-9000 / 03-7874-8096 or file a complaint via its website www.nccc.org.my.

It might be your brother, sister, cousins, neighbors or even your spouse! Well, the only logical thing to do is pay up. If you can’t pay the recommended amount i.e. RM 200 a month, there is always room for negotiation.

The main point, just make sure you pay. As the article below states, I do know some close friends and even neighbors who are now working in the government but have yet to repay their study loans. The equation is very simple, if the borrowers do not pay up, how are new loans going to be available?

Lets just say all you can afford is RM 90 per month, so be it. At least that comes to RM 1,080 per year x 41,000 people is a whopping RM 44 million, enough to fund more than 1,000 undergrads at local universities.

Planning for your child’s education is very important and doing it early is the best way to go, but that is all another story all together…

The Star Online : Sunday November 25, 2007

Stern action to be taken against study loan defaulters

By TAN SIN CHOW

PENANG: Stern action will be taken against study loan defaulters, including stopping them from going overseas.

Deputy Higher Education Minister Datuk Ong Tee Keat said this was in line with the amendments to the PTPTN (National Higher Education Fund Corporation) Act recently.

He said the loan defaulters would have their passports confiscated until they paid up their loans.

They could also be subjected to compulsory monthly salary deductions by the Inland Revenue Board, he said.

“Previously the Act was not sufficient to act against such defaulters.

“But with the amendments, we are confident of recovering the unpaid loans,” he told reporters after launching the Pemimpin Bersama Rakyat programme in Air Itam on Sunday.

Ong said there were some 41,000 loan defaulters currently working in government agencies or government-linked companies.

“Action will be taken against them,” he said.

This was the findings of a recent survey conducted by Prudential lately. In planning for retirement, 1 major aspect that needs to be looked into is your spending requirements or your expenses budget on a monthly basis.

From there you have to add in inflation factors to compensate for additional future costs over the years. Upon retirement, family commitments usually reduces as the kids are almost independent and your mortgage or car loans are normally settled in full. But as commitments go down, the need for healthcare might increase to aging and illness. So, this must also be taken into consideration.

However, there are people who overlook all these issues and spend off their EPF on buying a new luxurious ‘retirement’ car or unnecessary renovation for the family home or live above their means.

Please read below :

The Star : Wednesday October 3, 2007
Prudential launches RM5.5m ad campaign

By DALJIT DHESI

KUALA LUMPUR: Prudential Assurance Malaysia Bhd has launched its RM5.5mil advertising campaign aimed at enhancing awareness among Malaysians on the importance of retirement planning.

The campaign – “What’s Your Number” is a 10-week campaign beginning Wednesday and one of the core initiatives of Prudential is to heighten awareness amongst consumers on the need to financially plan and prepare for life after retirement.

Prudential’s chief officer for brand, communications and partnerships distribution, Thomas Wong, said the campaign was the result of a recent survey by the company which revealed that Malaysians were generally ill-prepared and did not pay strong emphasis on retirement planning.

The findings of the survey were released in August; the survey covered over 1,000 city dwellers across Malaysia and it was conducted to understand and get better insight into retirement.

“While Malaysians clearly know what they want to do when they retire, a majority are not actively planning for it. Only 34% of those surveyed are consciously putting money aside regularly for their retirement funds.

“To add to the issue, a startling 60% are unaware of how much they need to sustain their lifestyles post-retirement. With longer life expectancy, rising medical and general inflation costs, such ignorance is indeed worrying if it is not addressed,” he said in an interview.

Under the campaign, the company’s 8,000-strong agents would be provided with a retirement calculator as a tool to determine their clients’ retirement “numbers” based on different desired lifestyles.

They could also use this to help clients calculate how much they need to save for retirement, he said.

According to Wong, through this innovative tool coupled with Prudential’s global expertise in retirement planning, it has given the company an added advantage and niche over other players in this field.

He added through its existing range of investment-linked plans, the company was able to help customers achieve their retirement “numbers” and goals.

Prudential currently has a total of nine investment-linked funds, including one foreign fund that invests in the Asia Pacific region (excluding Japan) and four syariah-compliant funds. The total investment-linked funds under management as at June 30 stood at RM2.9bil and in terms of market share, it commands about 32% of the investment-linked business.

Wong said the campaign had also been successfully launched by the group in South Korea, Hong Kong and Taiwan.

Wealth is not about money

If its not about money, what is it all about then? Accoring to Roger, a lot of people want to get rich by chasing money but the money never comes.

You can have a room of 100 people and give them $ 1,000,000 each but still these people could not be called rich because the money that you just gave to them could disappear in a matter of months or a few years. This can be shown clearly through examples of money gained thru inheritance and winning the lottery.

However, its not the same for another group of people. Why? Simply because no matter how much of their money that you take away from them, the money will come back to them thru new deals or other businesses.

Therefore, WEALTH can be defined as :
“What you are left with AFTER you take away all the money”

An example of these wealth profiles/personalities are Bill Gates (Microsoft), Richard Branson (Virgin) and Donald Trump.

Of course they are wealthy people today but try to look and study how they all started their wealth…