Masakan Tradisional Indonesia

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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...

This is an extract of what I read in today's newspaper. More and more people start to carry this type of alternative concepts about retirement especially in this 21st century. You can't say its wrong. As a matter of fact, its a rather SMART way to go. But lie within is a huge hidden risk. The titles in above newspaper read: you don't need much during retirement, coz your liability has reduced living frugal is not hard, mentality is the key you don't need to prepare to retire ? By the time you retire, you probably don't have any more house loan or car loan to serve. Your body does not allow you to earn that much anymore. Chicks don't get attracted even if you sit in a Porsche. The bigger house you live in the harder it is for you to take care of it. In short, many people plan to 'maintain' their CURRENT lifestyle when they play for their retirement. The fact is you WILL NOT live the SAME lifestyle even if you are financially able to. Basically ...

Once upon a time, there was a gasoline called 97. The cost of this item was $1.80. One day, the governing body wanted to increase the price to $2.10. However, the governing body knows that if they simply increase price, that will affect their popularity. Which in turn affect their eligibility to continue to be governing body in next election. Hence they come up with a perfect idea. They first introduce another brand called 95. Actually this is a much lower quality product than 97. In short, 97 simply means there is at least 97% of pure petrol in the gasoline. On the other hand, 95 only has 95% purity. However, they push out 95 as if it is a better quality product. They even add some 'addictive' into 95 to justify their claim its a better product. It was presented in a way that 95 will replace 97, and stay at the same price at $1.80 More than 90% of the consumer fall for it. Hence the transition of 97 to 95 went through smoothly. Majority of the consumers pay the ...

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...

In 2009, Dung, Mat and Ahmad's personal inflation rates are 4%, 24% and 2.5% respectively representing the Rich, the Average and the Poor. Unfortunately this year we can't do a 1 to 1 comparison because Dung's business has expanded into main land China and his life style has drastically changed. Mat lost his job and now float between temporary freelance works. Ahmad on the other hand has ventured into politics and sort of get himself 'upgraded' into the Average arena. Unfortunately, none of their personal inflation rate can be used to represent our 'typical' experiences. All of them are going through a 'transition' in life rather than reflecting the general senses of inflation. But perhaps you are experiencing a transition in life too ? When one is calculating his own personal inflation rate, it is important to differentiate value and cost . For example, a plate of used to be $1 fried mee is now $1.50; that would be a 50% increase as in it ...

Like inflation , Living Standard can be a big number where GDP, poverty rate, income growth inequality, life expectancy are involved. But as far as personal finance is concern, what you should really care is your very own personal living standard. Simply put, living standard is your ability to sustain how you live your life. At one hand this can be calculated very much similar to Living Cost and the increase of living cost over time is inflation. So is living standard the same as inflation ? But it should be the opposite instead. One would want lower inflation but higher living standard. So what has gone wrong in the formula ? The keyword is " ability ". If you are NO longer ABLE to sustain how you live your life when inflation kicks in, you are facing the risk of lower living standard. Inflation is an external factor. Your ability to fight the inflation will determine your living standard. When your ability increases faster than inflation, your living standard is ...

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...

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...