Proceeded from http://forum.lowyat.net/topic/368156/+2500

I am a degree graduate and am earning only 1700 per monthbeing an executive in retail industry, but im happy with my job and my current lifestyle. Having work for 3 years, i have limited savings due to the low salary and high living expenses. But this doesnt deter me from saving and start investing. Got no car, no house, no property whatsoever. Bad Bad

Due to peer pressure, i think its better off to bump up my self confidence and look for better opportunities, when most of my friends are earning more than 5k per month, im earning 1.7k. This is what we choose, what i have choosen 3 years ago. But this thinking had been in my mind the first day i started my current job, and time flies, 3 years later, im still here, complaining that i earn peanuts, but did i do anything? =/ Well, obviously i dint do enough. We must believe that there is a better and brighter sky out there.

For those who earn high income but complain that standard of living is too high, got not enough money to use, think of those like me who earn so little yet managed to save and invest. People earning 1k plus can start a family, by living within their means. You can do it, the key is actually PERSONAL FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT. Take it personal, there is no plan that is for everyone. Manage it perrsonaly, do not just whine and complain like me =/

Now for those who are like me, always complain that pay is low, do you have capabilities that proved that you are indeed underpaid, if yes, anything been done? Ever look for better opportunities, i believe a lot of you would say No. Because im in the exact same situation so i understand =/ Again, it PERSONAL FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT. Its your life, its personal, its how you managed it. I have been giving it a lot of thought lately, im getting older, i already have a slow start up, now my resolution for 2011 is to get a new job. Albeit slower than those who earn more and save more, we can also achieve it, thru various ways.

Take charged. Make it personal.

Hard to believe you are a graduate with 3 yrs working experience earning just RM1.7K. You seem to be mature in thinking and come across as a well adjusted individual. Maybe you just need to be a little more ambitious. Best of luck in your future endeavor!

for 3 minutes, just ignore the blue tag

i'm currently nearing my thirties. what i do and how much i earn shouldn't be important, rigth?

currently,

1. i maxed out my ASB investment
2. HP repayment about RM 800, another 2 yrs left <-- my only liability, currently
3. property loan repayment = RM 2k per month, 9.5 yrs left

i've been saving almost 60% of my salary. my ASB goes from zero to max within 5 years.

i don;t desire many things but i still do spend normally - a new phone every year, this and that, fine watches, bicycles, gadgets, etc etc

now my big problem: i just don't have any idea what else to do with the money. pls help.

atm, i just dump my extra money into ASM or ASW which earns me about 6% return annually.

and to quote from a popular pop song "i wanna be a billionaire, so freaking bad... bla bla bal bala bal"

and oh yeah. i'm single. w/o insurance (never believe in insurance)

This post has been edited by lucifah: Sep 27 2010, 11:28 PM

Hi all, I am a fresh graduate starting work in pj. I am determined to save up and invest rather than spending it away.

So here is what I got.
-I have a 2.7k salary, with around RM400 allowance, which most of the time will be used up for transportation, since I travel alot.
-I got a car, and won't be changing it, just maintain it.

The question is, how and what should I invest in? Coz I dun believe in putting money in bank, coz the interest rate is way too low. I believe money can generate more money itself. Hope some sifu will gimme some advise!

Well, ASB is the best risk adjusted investment out there. If you have max out, then you will need other options. Well below is several investment option, no recommendations since I don't know how risk adverse are you. Look through the list and see if anything particular interests you.

1. Fixed Deposit - Well everyone knows this, risk free but you only get about 2.8% to 3.3% per year, barely keeping up with inflation. You can get 4%-5% with foreign fixed deposit, but these have currency conversion risk and charges.

2. Share market - This option will need a lot of study and stock selection, if you have time to learn all about it, it could be rewarding, as the gains are not limited. However it is quite risky as share prices can drop significantly. Many a fortune was made and lost in the share market.

If you want stable income you can consider REITs which is paying 7%-8+% in dividends a year and is actually quite stable. If you ignore the market prices (prices can come down!) and just collect dividends then it could be a good income generator for a long time.

3. Unit Trust - If you want others to do your investing works for you, then you can consider unit trusts. There are loads out there, but not everyone is good, there are some real bad ones as well. If you want to select good funds choose those which fits your risk, chose from the 10% in at least 5 years of history. Unit trust funds are capable of 20%-30% profit a year but is ALSO capable of losing up to 50% in bad economic times.

Alternatively you can consider guaranteed fund, but these usually perform on par with bond funds. However there is very little risk, at worst you get your money back, with no earnings.

4. Bond Funds - Commercial and government debts. If you want another source of stable income, bond funds are less volatile than other share funds. expect to get about 5%-6% for good quality bond funds, and 7%-9% for emerging market funds but at considerably more risk. However bond funds rarely drops more than 10% in bad times.

5. Property - Property with good location can be a a good income generator provided you get at least 6-7% yield. If you did not pay for an overpriced property, with the yield above, your property loan can be fully serviced by your tenant. At the end of your loan period, you get the property for free, and bonus for capital appreciation. However there are risk of your property not rented out and if you choose to buy in a poor area.

6. Well the final option is to dump more money with ASNB with the 6% return annually. But that is boring.

---

Added on September 28, 2010, 9:43 amlook at the reply above, see if anything interest you and you would like to know better.

This post has been edited by gark: Sep 28 2010, 09:54 AM

Hi, Im 20 this year and im doing my 2nd year diploma. im doing some part-time and able to earn up 800 per month. Till now im able to save up 5k in my saving account. Recently one of my friend introduce me a investment company that invest in forex. http://www.owgfx.com/ im not sure whether i should put in some money inside to invest cause i like to see my money keep growing or continue to earn 800 per month? please give me some advise what should i do now and any ideas that can help me to keep my money grow. thanks people.

It is impossible to have any investment that can earn you Rm800 per month consistently with a 5K capital.

For forex issue, please read this.
http://www.bnm.gov.my/index.php?ch=8&pg=14&ac=1976

I never expect to earn RM800 per month with 5k investment. As long got return in the investment is already okay for me.

Hello Eelinkim,

Some questions, your "friend" said forex is good. so how many years he traded in the forex market ? how many % can he profit from it?

Don't jump into the forex market based on other ppl's opinion. Forex is a very very volatile market... Trust me, it is not for everyone.

I have seen some of my friends lost all their hard earned money in one night...

All the above statement i made sounds quite "risky" & "danger". However, I myself is a part time forex trader. In my opinion the risk is manageable.

Remember, DO NOT INVEST in anything YOU NOT FAMILIAR WITH ! STAY OUT of you don't know !

Cheers

This post has been edited by cscheat: Sep 29 2010, 09:59 PM

Hi jeff_ckf,

Thanks for you explaination.

I just received the offer letter from the new company. I was also informed by the HR of the company that the EPF portion contributed by me is 11% of my salary. However I can chose to pay 8%. Whereby the company will pay another 12% for EPF. As the EPF's return is not that attractive, I prefer to contribute 8%, not 11%. As a whole the total contribution to EPF is 20% then.

Hi Eelinkim

If something sounds too good to be true, you have to think more about it. Anyway, who knows there might have such too good stuff for us to explore and dig out? So it's your own responsibilities to make sure you know more your investment.

Hi kevinwcm,

I would suggest to invest into stock market. Do your home work by researching the listed companies' annual reports and find out potential and good quality companies then invest your spare money into those companies. After investing your money into those companies, treat them as your own business and keep the investment for long term. Then pump in stock market whenever you have extra cash, later you will find you have accumulated and growth your wealth with the stock market.

If you are a newbie to stock market, maybe you should 1st start to look at blue chip companies. I can also recommend you to buy a listed close-end fund, i.e. icapital.biz Berhad of which NAV grows at an annual compounded rate of 19%.

I just wanna know , can I really do something on my money ? I got q quite heavy burden with me now and got no where to go !

Basic Salary = RM 1,800 , after deduct 8% then will RM 1,656 + RM 700 ( Fixed monthly allowance ) = RM 2,356

Car loan : RM 352 ( I drive VIVA only )
Life Insurance + Medical Card : RM 100
My bro laptop installment : RM 91.58
My own laptop : RM 242
Digi broadband : RM 88
My hp installment : RM 135.75
My dad loan ( only end at December 2011 ) : RM 1,077.94
Handphone bill : RM 100
Food : Don't talk about even .. cannot even think.

Food : Don't take breakfast,lunch sometimes eat bread,if can go out and see customer,can CLAIM , at night eat roti canai

Totol : RM 2,087.27 ~

After salary and deduce commitment I left RM 168.73 ~

How guys ?

This post has been edited by WhiteWing: Oct 1 2010, 02:14 PM

waiting for property bubble to burst before going on a spending spree...

Wow, your dad's loan killing you. Most of your expense is installment, I think you can't stop it unless you want to stop using it (Car, Hp, Laptop).

Anyway, try to reduce other expense or increase your income by doing free lance. I assumed you are doing sales (meet customer, fixed allowance) and should have a lot contact. Try to do something like referring customer for other business and get paid.

Good luck !!!

WhiteWing, my advice. Take care of yourself by having proper meals instead of those unhealthy foods rather than spending so much for laptop, broadband and handphone monthly.

If i were you, i already have a laptop, i don't really have to own a fancy handphone. I believe the handphone is your personal satisfaction but if you started to worry about your monthly over-expenses, then you'll noticed that all of this things are unnecessary for you.

Yah I think WhiteWing should have cut some of the laptop/handphone installments if you are really desperate. Don't forget, you still not add in the transporation cost. We assume you do not use the car to travel to your company, but you still need to spend on public transport right, unless you are working to the company of which is close to your home.

Below is my opinion:-

Car loan : RM 352 ( I drive VIVA only ) (Not going to advice you to sell the car otherwise you will incur losses and still owe the bank though you might be paying a lower installment subsequently. Since your dad's loan going to finish in a year, so you pray u can tahan to pay this 352 in the next 12 months)
Life Insurance + Medical Card : RM 100 (100 in insurance is minimum, should keep this)
My bro laptop installment : RM 91.58 (i'm assume you are helping your younger brother to buy laptop and assume your younger brother could be in college so he needs a laptop to do homework, ask him to work out this part himself, ask him work part time lah)
My own laptop : RM 242 (if really desperate, sell your laptop and use your brother's laptop)
Digi broadband : RM 88 (broadband is not that important, cut this and transfer to your food expenses)
My hp installment : RM 135.75 (I assume you are paying installment for a fancy phone cost about RM2k? sell it if you desperate, so you not only got some cash to sustain your live style for the next few months till clearing your dad loan, you also lessen your burden of paying 135.75 no more each month)
My dad loan ( only end at December 2011 ) : RM 1,077.94 (I don't know what happen to your dad, hope it wont happen again or else you have to find another higher pay job to cover this portion)
Handphone bill : RM 100 (i think this part is high, if can cut by half)
Food : Don't talk about even .. cannot even think. (don't be too harsh to yourself on food, if u sick becuz of lacking of nutrient, you will be more into trouble)
Food : Don't take breakfast,lunch sometimes eat bread,if can go out and see customer,can CLAIM , at night eat roti canai

I am waiting too... . So far no crash but the price appreciation has slowed down. The last property I bought is yielding about 8% for me.

Guys. My monthly expenses:

Fixed:
Car Loan: RM470
House Rent: RM260
Credit Card Installment: RM350 (5 months left)
Phone Bill: RM50
Total: RM1150

Variable:
Parking: RM50
Petrol car/bike: RM200
Food and everyday's expenses: RM750
Public Transportation: RM100
Total: RM1100

I am 25. Earn about RM2200 per month. Don't drive cars too much as i have bike but i think i'm going to take public transportation for a while now. The problem is there is so many unexpected things happened, and i have no savings and i have just settled down my personal loan lately and want to begin to save now. No more personal loan and credit card usage for me after this, regret so much. In the near future, my monthly expenses will change because of further study in Degree as a part timer soon.

Fixed:
Car Loan: RM470
House Rent: RM260
Education loan: RM450
Phone Bill: RM50
Total: RM1250

Variable:
Parking: RM50
Petrol car/bike: RM200
Food and everyday's expenses: RM750
Public Transportation: RM100
Total: RM1100

What should i do guys? Where should i cut the expense?