Masakan Tradisional Indonesia

Frugality in Kuala Lumpur has just gone one level deeper.  A saving of about $550 monthly, a 2 hours exercise sessions for FREE and an opportunity to explore natures within the city has just been proven recently with just ONE simple ACT !  As everything goes, there is some trade off or 'risk' too ... Its Cycling To Work ! Mathew  was a guy who suffers from a terrible 24.3% inflation in 2009.  After he started to follow this blog, he has learned a trick or two to keep things going smoother.  Today he is working as a top executive in a public company but situation hasn't changed much.  He is still in middle level income group.  After his 5 figures income divided by the number of people he has to support, his actual cash-at-hand per person monthly is much less than average personal income ie. $1,500. Many staffs who worked for Mathew always complains about how tough their lives are and demand a salary increment without extra performance to the compan...

Half of year 2011 has already passed. Have you ever thought of your next tax filing yet ? If you only take a look by next year, then it may be too late for you to optimize anything anymore. Try below widget and see how much the impact may be for you ! Just enter your total annual income and see how much tax you can save simply by planning early !! This is a FREE widget provided at http://howMuchTaxCanIsave.co.cc/

Actually GST is good , at least in theory. In practice, it could really go either way. And either way could mean good or bad for somebody and not everybody. This has already been proven in many countries who has adopted GST for ages. But one thing for sure, GST gives the government full Flexibility . Now or in the past, it started with "I will tax this and that". So sales tax, service tax, government tax, custom tax etc. were introduced. With GST, it started with " I will tax everything " except those I give exceptions. So system wise, GST is also better. Or in another word, GST is more systematic . Most people may have known the devil of GST from many blog posts by now, but seriously if you look at the topic with a clear mind and NOT just from consumer point of view, you may realize those are really just purely speculation. However, it may still happen but when it does, it is because the consumers ourselves are making it happen . By thinking it might happ...

Budget is one of the very first topics in Personal Finance. Many may think budget is about control expenses but the true meaning of budget is to PLAN AHEAD . Although they may mean the same thing but actually it will leave a very different psychological effect. At one hand, one is focusing on 'expenses'. Controlling implicitly mean NOT to over spend it. This creates an internal conflict of "I want it but I can't have it". Whenever a control fails, its due to lack of discipline. The resolution is to control it better which is enforcing discipline. Enforcing discipline on a person who naturally does not have discipline is the internal conflict mentioned earlier. On the other hand, PLAN AHEAD would simply imply "I want it and I will get it". This is more target oriented and positive minded. Whenever a plan didn't materialize, one would have to plan better; as in "how else can I get what I want". This may further enhance one's cr...

We often hear experts said if you are young, you can take more risk, hence put your investment in equity. then if you are old, you should keep your capital in safer vehicle like bond etc. But one important strategy they miss out is ... the dynamic of personal finance portfolio. Says you are 25 years old, you will need a sum of money at 35 years old. Hence you can invest into equity. However, you must learn something about the equity market you are entering into. For example, you know that for every 10 years in your equity market, there will be a peak and a bottom. So perhaps by 3-4 years before your maturity date, ie. 31-32 years old. You should start considering withdrawing your equity investment and keep them in a money market or bond fund. This will preserve your capital and secure you from unexpected last minute change , ie. a sudden equity collapse. for example; age 25 : 90% equity, 10% bond age 27 : 80% equity, 20% bond age 32 : 40% equity, 60% bond age 34 : 10% equity, 90...

Value for Money ( short for V4M ) is basically how much values you get from the money you paid. It is often irrelevant how much is the price of an item or service. Whether or not a person pay for something is simply because of how he perceives the values he is getting. If a person perceive values more than its price, he would paid for it ! If a person perceive values less than the price, he would NOT paid for it. There are 3 types of V4M perceptions. This article will cover 2. Linear model of V4M is basically thinking all features are alike. Hence for every feature the person is looking for, he would be willing to pay some price for it. But if a particular feature is substantially higher price, he would think its NOT worth it. For example, a person is looking for a phone that has Wifi feature and cool-look feature. A typical wifi phone may cost him $500, a cool looking wifi phone may cost $2,000. A linear V4M guy will go for the typical Wifi phone. Exponential type of V4M model ...

From time to time we hear about how rich people donate their wealth away. Some donate whole of their wealth, some half and some donate just enough to optimize their tax planning. Most people would think that the rich has too much, hence they want to give some away since they can't use it anyway. That ... would be 20th century mind set. The fact is ... the rich who donates, is not only rich, but also smart rich. Whatever they have now, they can continuously have it at anytime. Hence it doesn't really matter if they give anything away tonight, they will have it again tomorrow morning. That would be the ultimate power of passive income, or smart income . Once you know how much you 'really' need, you 'find a way' to keep your needs fulfilled without doing anything much. Then whatever extra comes in is the one you can easily donate away without filling any pinch. Yet many will feel much appreciated because it means the whole world to them. So in short, you can...

21st century personal finance is moving away from saving and focus into the income arena. In short, the gurus are now educating public that saving is NOT good enough , hence sourcing for passive incomes on the another hand is a BETTER solution, than just saving alone. While the concept is definitely true and correct but unfortunately as the hypes go bigger and bigger, the idea of passive income has been abused and more scams started to appear in the market, as if they were the gurus as well. Except the 'passive income' they refer to is barely promoting their own original same old products. The personal finance market has become so competitive that even some real gurus have no choice but to go beyond the line in their marketing effort - Robert Kiyosaki is no exception in spreading " Saving is bad ". Although passive income is very well defined here using income ratio 1:100 but is there really such thing as Passive income ? When I looked up dictionary, these word...

You may think the $1 spent is the same $1 earned . Its really NOT ! One of the fundamental flaws human cannot control their own spending habits is because they DO NOT UNDERSTAND the value of money at the first place. The $1 spent could be equivalent to as much as $7-$10 earning !! For example if you earn $4,000 a month and you manage to save $400 every month. By year end you would have saved aside $4,800. This money is intended to be put aside earning interest as part of the MeM (Money earns Money) mechanism. So its not just $4,800. It will be more than that as time goes. The longer it is kept there the more powerful compounding factor is working for you. Says you take out $1,000 from this saving at year end for an unplanned luxury expense. Its not just $1,000 you have used. You have actually dug a hole in your saving - a 21% hole. If you saving return is 3%, it will take more than 7 years for this hole to be refilled back to its original amount. So you have practically us...

There are 2 BIG main external factors affecting our investment decisions Economy Politic When the time is really bad (economy downturn and politically unstable), its best to park your money under something that is really stable, ie Gold . Which is by definition usable anywhere you go in anytime. When its good time, invest direct to the stock market would yield very good return. When the economy is not so good in a strong country, the government bonds or related money market would be able to yield higher return than just gold. However, the most dispute solution in good economy unstable country is investment in property . This is mainly due to easier rental and higher chance of capital gain. By simply moving money around depends on the political and economy situation, one was able to achieve more than 12% compound return for the past 20 years. That is equivalent to a 10X return. But by no mean this is easily done. Some of the concerns include; how would one know exactly when econo...

Sometimes I feel very depress when my prediction comes TRUE. For those who don't know yet, Malaysia is going through a transition where political power could potentially shared between 2 parties; instead of just one-side-say-it-all like the past 50 years. Unfortunately, the initial phase of this transition has ended in a way when our new Prime Minister has strategically resolved it. At the moment New Economy Model was presented, I immediately sensed the game err they plan to play. Because exactly the same game plan has been played in USA before. While it is true that Malaysia CAN become a developed nation by adopting those moves but it has also been proven that such finance structure is NOT sustainable. Just see what has happened in USA and what is happening in Europe. Although as if recession is over now, actual effective inflation experience the SHARPEST rise in last 2 months, as high as 25% to 50% if you visit hypermarket often. That is not the worst. What is happening n...

It has already been shown that it is not that hard to retire young . If the person you marry is also adopting similar lifestyle then it is also easy for both of you to retire young together. But what if you have people who are financially depending on you ? How would you achieve financial freedom with dependents ? Before I go on, I have to apologize first I don't have an easy to follow solution for this; not like Wealth Pyramid or Personal Finance in 1 picture . Because the answer was already given before this question is asked. And the ability to achieve financial freedom with dependents is really within you yourself as a person, not really a finance issue to start with. Give me a chance to explain ... because most people will not like this. Through out the whole personal finance concept promoted in MalPF, it has never questioned you how you spent your money. As a matter of fact, the very first thing is to put aside some money systematically and then its up to you what you...

There are certain fundamental stuffs that you should do even before you fully understand what they are . That will at least keep you afloat at a certain stage, also often used as resting stage or jumping stone to higher level. Usually this stage is also adequate for young adult to retire early . What goes beyond however will require clear target and solid methods . Some of the easier methods shared before are ; Stock Investment : When to Buy at What Price ... Why Use EPS and PE ... Where to get these data ? ... Management, the Qualitative side Guaranteed Property Investment method One common element to do great thing is the use of Leverage . Unfortunately, a lot of people learn about leveraging before they learn the right method. As a result they simply leverage everything they had. Leverage is basically maximizing result, no matter what direction it goes . If you have a good investment system, leveraging it would result a bigger profit. Likewise, if you have a bad or no system...

Some of the most read articles here is when some of the big finance institutions' bad intentions are exposed. Credit Card companies will charge interest on the expenses you haven't even made yet EPF does not really take good care of your money, not all the time Bank can charge you 2200% interest in 1 month Malaysia government try to solve credit card debt by adding more debt to it Bursa Malaysia tells you NOT to invest long term How Banks call center abuse users Government allows citizen to reduce EPF and then use Tax to take away even more of people's money Like wise, Robert's "Conspiracy" and a few other gurus who talked about how sick today's finance systems are, also receive major big hits. Its just fun, eye opening and jaw dropping to learn these news! So what can we do about it ? Robert's suggestion is to join the big boys playing the debt game and his instrument is property investment. Obviously that is not the 'solution' . That is...

Monopoly is one of the most popular board games. When Charles lost his job, he played The Landlord's Game and then created his own version of the game which later became Monopoly. Originally he was trying to include all the dynamics of property investment into the game but as time goes people find those are too complicated. Hence today's Monopoly is simplified until its a 8 years old game. Now new board games are developed everyday by adding back those left out rules - including Robert's Rich Dad. Some who followed this blog long enough may already know that Property Investment is NOT a suitable personal finance tool. Although there are ways to obtain guarantee income through property investment at personal finance level , but those who have never done it would think such method is ridiculous, impossible and paper talk only. Then when they use other approaches, they miss interpret active income as passive income . As a result they would do great at times but when t...

It was mentioned before that EPF in Malaysia is one of the best things that happens to ones personal finance, because it saves automatically even before you can lay a hand on your money - the main principal of Automated Saving System - ASS . But not everyone works for someone. Or if your employer does not contribute his part, it makes EPF so much less interesting. So a government's mutual fund is born - Amanah Saham Nasional. If you are not eligible for EPF, you can still save in Amanah Saham. Despite many disputes and diverse understanding on what Amanah Saham is or should be, one cannot deny that our poverty rate has indeed improved. The gap between rich and poor did narrow down since 50 years ago. That's the power of mutual fund, despite how wrong or how right the reason is when one save in mutual fund, all will be sharing the same return. A government supported fund is even better for those who don't know what it is. As long as the 'government' is there, ...

Very often the terms mortgage and home loan are used interchangeably . Although it might not cause big harms but understanding the difference may bring positive impact to your personal finance ie. in Property Investment. In fact, mortgage is the opposite of loan. When you need extra money, someone can lend you some and in return they gain profit when you repay them. The lender may ask for collateral like your house so that if you don't repay them, they can take possession of your house, sell it and still earn a profit by doing so. They give you a loan . If you have something valuable and you want to exchange it temporary for some money, you can prove to people how valuable your possession is and why should they give you money for it. You get your money if the lenders are satisfied their interests will be taken care of . You have just mortgaged your belongings. Loan is a lender's contract, mortgage is a borrower's contract. At one instance, it may seems the same. It...

Most of the Malaysians are already used to the 5 cents round up despite how silly some of the transactions could become. BNM has already clearly stated that this only apply to cash transactions where we are trying to get rid of 1 cent coins. But it is obvious that even if you are paying with credit card, check and online transfer, most of the retailers will still round the 5 cents up. When you go to bank and make a payment of $9.98 over the counter. You may write down $9.98 in the bank in slip. Upon making payment, the cashier will have to get $10.00 from you. Which is fine since now the rule is to round it up. When the transaction is done and you get back your proof of payment, what do you think your paper work will say you paid ? Correct, $9.98 ! So be smart, round it up and write down $10.00 because that is the actual amount you pay. What if the amount is $9.96, you would definitely have to pay $9.95 but should you write on the slip $9.95 or $9.96 ? If you did write down $9.95...

There are many ways to retire. Some are easier than others. And some still think there is no way they can retire at all :) There are 2 main factors in retirement; 1. IN : how much do you have and 2. OUT : how much will you use during your retirement So naturally if you have more IN than OUT then you can retire. One of the ways is to calculate how much your OUT would be and then accumulate IN as fast as possible. You may have read that its rather simple for a single woman to retire at young age . There are 2 main influence on the figure OUT; 1. if you live a luxury life, it may take longer to retire ... if ever ... 2. if you live frugally, you may retire sooner. Some may think they live frugally but actually they may have been spending more than they should. A good way to quantify your OUT is to look at how you have been expensing for the past 10 years. It would most likely be how you will spend in future. The way we use our money is deeply embed in our subconscious. Its easie...

Is it best retire young ? Have you ever heard some people retire early at their 30s ? Do you think they got lucky or they must have own some businesses to become rich before they can retire ? Here are the stories of 2 persons who retired at their mid 30s and they only have worked for other people before. ( due to consent issues, the figures are generalized just to illustrate the concept ) They started working at their early 20s with starting salaries of $1,800 to $2,000. After more than 8 years of working, their monthly income were more than $6,000 and then it didn't increase any much further after that. Usually the salary big jump occurred during career move and they have changed career once or twice. Together with bonuses, they have earned a total of $800,000 in total after 12-15 years of working. Through out those time, they have saved aside a total of $175,000 . Initially they save their money in fix deposit getting about 2-3% return but very soon they move on the mutu...