Yeah - i feel U.

Thus, when my friends/acquaintances pooh poohed my suggestions that financial goals should also be part of a couple's / partnership's discussion BEFORE marriage and DURING marriage... i went like Hard to meet or exceed each other's expectations when it's not discussed and brought up lor. The worse ones actually knowingly goes against what was mutually agreed

Recently I have changed new job with 70% salary increment. So finally I plan to go own a car and told my friends about my plan and also want to ask for their opinion on what type of cars I should buy. However, their first thought are "Bro, you are going after hot chicks with your car!?"

Congrats KinWing - give value, get value
Cocky a bit lar with your buddies - "No lar, not going after hot chicks. I just want one to be able to outrun them - so many chasing me"

BTW, on cars - i'm sure U'll be analyzing them for cost vs functionality vs maybe.. hotness hehe
Can share share here - part of personal financial mgt mar selecting a car right?
IMHO, other than homes, cars are the biggest $ outflow - lump sum + maintenance

Me - i'm too close to the motor industry to comment too much , ppl may accuse me of having too much vested interest even when i personally think buying cars every 5 years is nuts

This post has been edited by wongmunkeong: Apr 19 2012, 01:22 PM

I wonder how to foreigners who came to Malasysia for work can still score a chick despite riding only bicycles. If a girl truly loves you, I guess no matter you bicycle or whatever car, they still will follow you. Those wanting your car money etc I suspect are gold digger.

Hm.. MAY not be "gold digger" per se IMHO.
The way i see it, it's about $ecurity, re$ource$ & $upport

In the old cavemen days, cavewomen went after the strongest men, for protection and hunting food - thinking for themselves (women) and their children to be.

Similarly, these days, this may mean $, assets, knowledge, etc. (ie. 5Cs or 8Cs in kiasu-land talk). It's just a "natural" thing just that some women may go overboard, like some men who are only into pink, 36DD-24-36, etc.

Thus, some women who "earns enough or more", tends to be ultra selective or doesn't have the "drive" to find a life partner (fun partner different case lar ). They don't have to worry about "shelf life" like the others who bank on their youth & looks, which will eventually be devastated by time - "saham jatuh" so to speak.

Ladies, please don't voodoo me ar - just ONE OF my perspective, not universal truth.

Agree that main financial commitment for 3 main purchases in our life, i.e. education, car and house (some may think life insurance).

Initially I plan to buy a new car, most probably Myvi will do and thus my budget should be around RM55,000.

However, after thinking twice, I think I just want to avoid the most depreciating period of a car which happens in the 1st few years. So I change my mind to buy a 2nd hand car of which age of 3 to 4.

Then I come to know a lady friend who wants to sell her KIA Pikanto which she bought 2 years ago. Now she is planning to trade it for a Volkswagen Beetle (Don't think she is nuts as she said she is doing sales so need to meet client with a more prestige car, good reason? Anyway, I think she is making good money from her job so this affords her to buy a good car), so I asked her to consider selling her car to me as I know ladies normally take good care of their cars.

However I do not know about the price for 2/3-year KIA Pikanto, not sure if munkeong you have any information since you mentioned you are close to motor industry ?

Once I decided to buy the car, I will pay 20% downpayment and the remaining will be financed by a car loan and I hope to get the longest possible car repayment tenure. As far to what I know, 2nd car loan will not get to the tenure of repayment up to 9-year, most probably the longest will be 5-year.

Well, I have all the Cs and H, but I still don't have gf. So, I don't think having cars will have advantage.

Hi KinWing.
Just as a simple comparison, try this http://www.motortrader.com.my/Cars/Buy/BasicSearch.aspx for prices of models/years
I'll go poke my colleague in Sales for KIA Picanto's asking price - 2 to 3 years old = 2009-2010 registration, right? I'll PM U - else mods may not like us turning this thread / topic to a car price only topic heheh.

BTW, U may want to note that the cost of repairs and maintenance for a 2nd hand "small" car (picanto, myvi, kancil, viva, i10, etc) VS a 2nd hand "compact sedan" (wira, waja, sephia), the cost similar, thus, U may want to think about a "compact sedan" IF U do groceries shopping once in 2 to 3 weeks (bulk purchase) + want a nice back seat
er... my bad ar - i'm assuming U will drive it until it disintegrates, not "upgrading" every 5 years.

That website is great, thanks for your information. Have search on KIA Pikanto and came out three 6 to 7-year Pikanto with a price at RM17,000 to RM18,000. Not sure how much the price for 3-year Pikanto? Thanks mungkeong if you could PM the price .

I have not been driving for 12 years since I bang my daddy's car in an accident. So I do not know what would be the maintainance cost and not even aware there is such difference costs for different sizes of cars.

Yes, I will buy another new car for quite sometimes, not because I do not want to change car frequently but that could be because the car won't wear off so fast as I am not going to drive it frequently. I will still take public transport to work (maybe will drive to work if know that day I will work late). I will only use the car if I am going out to meet friends and there is where my buddies keep assuming I buying cars because I want to meet hot chicks. Aiyo, hot chicks will not want to bother to ride on Pikantos lah, come one .

I choose Alza... New one, I used to own kancil manual (bought new) for almost 8 years and no problems and no trade-in. Consider Vios at first but forgot it as I need to spare my income for another house. I had bad experience with second hand car (wira) emmmppphhh... maybe I just had no time to entertain that car....

yeah....it'll all be settled in 2-3 years, and by then my salary will increase for another 400+-. so 1.5k + 400 more to save...for the time being....quite a tight budget.....

- Loan 1 is RM15k loan take up by my wife from a teacher koperasi. 1.8%pa for 3 years. she use the money to settle down when first get posted. still have left RM10k...only used RM5k, didnt know why she took so much last time, but the balance 10k now i dump into tabung haji also....
- Loan 2 is a RM25k loan i took from my father. No interest at all, hehehe i took the loan to get married, and settle down. used around rm2ok, the balance i dump into tabung haji too......

i'll try to follow your plan, right now no children yet, and we didnt decide whether to have a child now or later after finishing the all the debts.....

right now i do get some additional income by doing some IT sales and services to teachers around my district, which generate around RM1k a month, but not stable, there's a month i only get rm150 due to time constraint. I tried to do tuition but no one interested (im in jeli, kelantan now, quite "ulu" btw )

i am very2 blank with investment. i didnt know where to start and on what to invest to, and how much do i have to have to get started. what i do now is just saving in tabung haji and asb.

about objective....i didnt know...i prefer a stable life but not luxury and really enjoy myself in my carrier now. perhaps my objective for the time being is to buy my own house. is goverment house loan good to take?

W

This post has been edited by Kaka23: Apr 19 2012, 11:14 PM

Been a long follower of this awesome thread, started working 8 months ago.

Not married, living with my parents, while the house is taken care of by my dad, i'm just paying for the bills and any loose payments. Parents said do not require me to give money to them yet as they are still capable of taking care of themself.

No properties, no stocks , only RM8000 in the bank.

Salary :RM6200 nett

Fixed Expenses:
Car: RM650 (2nd hand Persona for 5 years, 4 half years to go)
Study Loan: RM1710 (250k study loan)
Electric Bill : ~RM220
Astro: RM164
Water: RM20 (living in an apartment, water is regulated by the apt )
Streamyx : RM135
Insurance : RM550 (Life Insurance 500k) Medical Card (RM120)
Ipad Installment : RM161 (5 Months to go)
Petrol : RM350 ( to get to my workplace, 100km to and fro)
Toll: RM100

Total ~RM4250


Left RM1950 for food/entertainment/date.

Will be my first month next month paying for the life insurance RM550. Have managed to save at least RM1000 per month before that , now the goal is to try to save RM1000 minimum even after paying the RM550.

Been binging a lot on food , as me and my gf are both food enthusiasts we tend to spend a lot on food, when we go out. Trying to reduce it to a minimum!

Gameplan:
1) Reduce expenses, esp misc expenses like eating out, cutting down the snowflake/chatime/starbucks.
2) Save RM20000 and put it in FD. Once i have that will start thinking of investing.

Should i let my 8k just sit here and accumulate for emergency funds or do you guys have better advice for that small chuck of money.

Trying hard to save at least 30% per month. My study loan is a big killer, but what to do haih!

This post has been edited by db07mufan: Apr 20 2012, 12:01 AM

An Objective in Life could be like a simple goal i.e to have a baby at a future date, or saving to buy a house or saving for a retirement.

If you have too many , then priorities them one by one.

I guess to have a baby could be a natural goal, but do plan for the future expenses as well.

REgards

This post has been edited by SKY 1809: Apr 20 2012, 07:02 AM

Last time I used to have half of your salary but I was still able to save 35% to 40%, i.e. around RM1,300 to RM1,600. So I think you should at least aim to save RM1,500 or above.

Emergency fund means it is for emergency purpose and should be put in the most liquid form of asset, i.e. FD. Since you plan to put RM20,000 in FD, now you will have another RM12,000 to go. Once you set up the RM20k emergency fund, then only you start to think about investment in order to look for higher return.

Hi db07mufan,
Congrats on your awareness of food/entertainment/dating being a lopsided % amount of your expenses + aiming to create a buffer emergency fund & investing fund by saving 30%+/-.

If i may suggest:
1. Replace / re-prioritize your love for fun food with another objective/hunger, else it may be hard to "break through".
eg.
by focusing on my net worth's growth and tracking MONTHLY,
i could cut down drastically on my previous habits - spending on gadgets & games (hey, i'm a typical nerd )
coz when i see it growing monthly and yearly (12 months' moving average)
Then it became my "main game" instead of gadgets, computers, PS3s & 360s
Bottom line: Have to replace one burning desire WITH another, else old burning desire hard to control

2. Split emergency buffer into staggered / laddered FD + U may want to put some in bond funds.
eg.
I've 1 year's expenses buffered in my emergency fund.
I store about 4 months' average expenses in my mortgage fund (like FD but more flexible ) + about 8 months' average expenses in bond funds
coz i don't for see touching more than 4 months' average expenses in a sudden crunch / emergency, thus i have time to liquidate my bond funds AND still make more % via bond funds than my mortgage fund's %.
I know i know, the main focus of emergency funds are for emergencies, not to grow %. I just hate seeing $ lying around in cash and losing greatly to inflation, thus i tweak a bit lor. May not work for U

-----------
IMHO - U've got a good game plan - by managing $ and building up your emergency buffer, before U start investing.
a. The $ put into investments should, IMHO, be conceptually thought as "can't touch this" for several years (at least 3 to 5 years) to AVOID being forced to sell at a bad time. This is where your money management and emergency buffer comes to save the day

b. Use the time (while building up your buffer) to learn about asset allocation, asset & sub-asset classes, what each asset / sub-asset can do for you, investing methodologies like value investing, dollar and value cost averaging, etc. Plan out a cohesive approach for your own financial goals & style/approach to investing

c. Test, track and tweak your plans & style/approach (b)
Without tracking, you won't know how your actions are "performing", thus won't be able to manage effectively & logically.

Just a thought

This post has been edited by wongmunkeong: Apr 20 2012, 09:48 AM

You want to buy a car but you're not using it frequently quite defeat the purpose of buying one at the same time. If you are not relying on the car, do you really need it? If any one of your friends are staying nearby, perhaps you can car pool on them. Not a need to be shy, friends understand and what you can do to repay them is just a small meal treat!

I agree! Thanks!

Think from beginning of next month, i'll take my pay take RM1500 put it in the emer fund account first thing and then the remaining to another account where all my transactions are.

I agree, been spending a lot going to fancy restaurants. Need to frequent coffeeshops more often and cut out on the binge eating. No more exp supper or just pure eating from greed.

Mortgage fund is it like a flexi loan kinda thing? I've read about it but have not understand it fully yet. You put a certain amount of $$ into your loan to reduce your principal, but when u need it you can just take it out.

Thanks, any sugggestion on where i can learn those. Been trying to read up on the stickies in this subforum

I am now 29, close my thirty liao. After working for 6.5 years and save enough, I think it's time for me to have a car, and with that I don't have to trouble my friends and I can go wherever and anytime I want to go out to meet friends.

In addition, after taking into consider that if I am going to buy a car at RM40k and I will pay 20% downpayment for it and the remaining take bank loan with repayment tenure of 5 years, I will still be able to save at least 30% of my salary. So owning a budget car won't cost too much to me anyway.

My apologies - perhaps mortgage fund is my personal English
Yup, it's flexi mortgage - i put my extra $ and buffer $ there, thus i don't have to pay (BLR -2.2%)pa daily rest interest rate, in effect "making" 4.4%pa currently and much more flexible than tenured FDs.

As for where to learn:
1. Basics - google cukup, plenty of write-ups around the web.
Read, process and absorb what U think makes sense to U

2. Details - books (also filter with your mind lar, k. What works then/situation may not work 100% now - just in case some fellow forumers start slinging again, being more than obvious here )
Books like:
+The Art of Asset Allocation: Principles and Investment Strategies for Any Market
+The Intelligent Asset Allocator: How to Build Your Portfolio to Maximize Returns and Minimize Risk
+The Intelligent Investor: The Definitive Book on Value Investing. A Book of Practical Counsel (the big momma of them all, very chewable like leather )
+The Four Pillars of Investing: Lessons for Building a Winning Portfolio
+Value Investing: From Graham to Buffett and Beyond
+Value Averaging: The Safe and Easy Strategy for Higher Investment Returns