just wanna ask you guys, ideally how much % should I be saving? about to start work soon in the later half of the year.

net income after EPF : 4450
deductions
Parents : 1000
Food : 600
Car Loan, Petrol & Misc : 1300
Phone : 100 (2 phones)
--
Balance : 1450 // ~30%
of which : 500 to build emergency fund

--
net savings : 950. ~20%

am i doing it right? Im not sure what allowances I can claim from the company and i havent account for insurance.

note:
-staying with parents.
-got some further side income from equities, but i try not to use that.

This post has been edited by teehk_tee: Apr 8 2011, 07:56 AM

wow, pretty good pay for a freshie.
Being able to save 30% is pretty good. Make sure you stick to your budget, track your expenses carefully and start to size up your investment portfolio gradually (equities, properties etc).

kudos to you for honouring your parents by giving them ~25 % of your pay.
Not many youngsters are willing to do that nowadays.
Keep it up.

Good planning everything is well planning. But i will suggest you to get anu insurance which the premium maybe just about RM 150 - RM 200 per month which focusing on coverage purpose. This is because in case emergency happen who going to pay for you?

Regards
Eric Poo

Use family car. Sometime atos sometime elantra. Plan to buy car after 2 years.
Wanted to save 20k as downpayment for car. How

thanks for your comments. i sincerely appreciate it very much!
yeah, i'll feed the rest of the cash back into the equities, .. not planning to get into the property ladder within the next 3-4 years. insurance.. i dont know im quite skeptical about insurance (like the likelihood, touch wood, of something happening). anyway i'll look into the plans.

thanks again. take care.

quite pointless to save for a loan. Save to invest that would be better.

---

Added on April 13, 2011, 8:52 amYou sure you get paid OT? I know loads of office you work after 6pm they dont pay you a single penny. Endure for the 1st and 2nd year then move on for a better pay check later on. Rm616 maybe try dumping rm100 or rm200 monthly to Etiqa Permier Saver, that was the 1st thing i did when i came out as a freshie. It's been 4 years.

This post has been edited by kidmad: Apr 13 2011, 08:52 AM

Ya ot 3 and half hour got rm40. 2 and half get rm15.
Etiqa wan meh

Hi guys, I will start my work as a houseman in govt hospital soon....if I'm not mistaken my pay should be about RM4k including on-calls and etc. I just got myself a car in which I'll be paying RM765 on a 5 year loan.

Currently I'm holidaying but am worried of my financial management once I start working. Studying medicine has made me totally ignorant on these financial management.

I have yet to get myself a property

Your food costs is very high. If you consider eating packed lunch twice a week, you can probably reduce that to RM400 per month. If you live with your parents and really control your spending, you can easily save 50% of your salary. With that 50% which is RM2225, you can first build an emergency fund of about RM10K++(in 5 months) and subsequently save the rest in an interest bearing account. In one year you will have approximately RM15K. With that money you can then invest in various investments like property, shares and even a business.

As for insurance, I would suggest not buying life insurance unless you have dependents but you should get a medical card (unless your company already insures you for that). It doesnt cost much...about RM500-RM700 per year depending on the type of room package and coverage you are looking at.

Well, what are your other expenses? Are you renting or are you living with you family?
1st plan your monthly budget wisely, try to save at least 30% of you total income (you should be able to save alot more, as you wont have much time to spend your moneym unless you have a gf/wife brr...)

2nd invest in yourself. Do more reading on investment, financial planning, real estate, shares etc.

3rd invest in your career. Do you know what you want to do when you grow up? General practice/ surg/ internal med etc. Find out more about the exams/ courses etc, plan ahead, start saving early. Remember these exams will cost you a bomb. But in a long run, you'll earn the money back easily. The most important thing is your interest and passion.

4th start a portfolio of equities/ real estate with your extra. Start small, go slow. Don't rush yourself, I would suggest you take this step after you have completed you housemanship. As you can do some locum jobs to increase you income steadily.

All the best, doc.

Hi, I received SMS that someone was assigned to be my RM? assisting on my wealth and finance for Preferred Banking customer.

What is RM? Relationship something?

What's their roles? anyone can shed light?

RM stands for Relationship Manager i suppose. Basically its your contact person with a particular bank, allowing you to have a more personalized service. If you want to have more information about a particular investment product or loan etc., you contact your RM.

Just remember that they usually have sales targets and objectives designed to promote new products, so you'll have to take their advice with a pinch of salt.

15K for property investment?
that's quite difficult isn't it.

i've got some ready savings to dig into for business purposes. and thanks for the advice on insurance. rarely get sick though..

I just received this reply from Bank Consultant -
-----------------
Pertaining to your enquiry, please be advised that "DEP CHRG TXN REF 2650" was referring to utilization fee charged.

Please be advised when average utilize portion was at 30% or less of total loan limit available, therefore 1% utilization fee will incurred on unutilized portion. The average utilization rate will be shown at the bottom section of Mortgage Loan statement, monthly average utilization fee calculation is according to installment date.


I need anyone here that has any information to this? Jeez, I'm not from financial background and I'm not expecting this answer. Anyone help?

Can anyone advise what sort of investment tool to go for? I have fd, unit trust, gold investment. I am confused with which tool to use for investment looking at the current KLCI index and gold price etc.. Currently I have accummulated 10k in my savings a/c.. as a result of the aforesaid problems.
Thanks in advance

Hi guys, in need of help to manage my finances too.

I'm a uni student, graduating in 1.5 years time. Currently have Rm 10k in my own savings. I've put them in FD as I am not confident in other investments such as gold and forex. Don't want to take risk as a student.

I am expecting to draw Rm 3k-3.5k per month once I start working.

Expenses should be low as I am living with parents and have a 2nd hand car fully paid. I will be taking over a critical illness & hospitalisation insurance policy which my dad has been paying for me for the past 15 years. It costs RM 2k annually. This insurance policy is important to me because I have been hospitalised before in which this insurance helped settle my Rm30k hospital bill. In the event I have an illness relapse, I won't be able to afford the bill without an insurance.

While I am working, I hope to save up for the following :

- to start a business in 15 years time.
- for retirement.
- emergency fund.
- future children's education.


1. Is there a place where I can put my money such that I get a higher interest rate than FD? I am considering putting in foreign FD but I don't have enough to do so right now.

2. Is there any way I can make my money grow? I believe I should have a substantial amount of savings with my salary. Other than property, what else can I invest in? I'm more comfortable investing in something tangible like property rather than something with a very high risk like the stock market.

Thank you all in advance for your input.

> I'm a uni student, graduating in 1.5 years time.
> am expecting to draw Rm 3k-3.5k per month once I start working.

3-3.5k is on the ambitious side, but still possible depending on your grades. And how well you come across in interviews.

> I will be taking over a critical illness & hospitalisation insurance policy

Take up whatever insurance you need - just make sure it's only insurance you need and not some other investment-linked insurance nonsense you don't really need.

> While I am working, I hope to save up for the following :
> - to start a business in 15 years time.
> - for retirement.
> - emergency fund.
> - future children's education.

Holy cow! You have your future all mapped out! Got a husband organized yet? But why 15 years? You can start sooner if you have the aptitude for it.

> 1. Is there a place where I can put my money such that I get a higher interest rate than FD? I am considering putting in foreign FD but I don't have enough to do so right now.

Plenty of other places where you can get much higher than FD. It also requires you to know what you are doing.

> 2. Is there any way I can make my money grow? I believe I should have a substantial amount of savings with my salary. Other than property, what else can I invest in? I'm more comfortable investing in something tangible like property rather than something with a very high risk like the stock market.

Stock market is not high risk if you know what you are doing. Property is a waste of time if you don't know what you are doing.

But really, your first priority is your career in your chosen field, which is where you will get your income from. That is, until you decide you are more knowledgeable in other areas.

Thanks a lot.

I am confident I can get that high salary as a starting pay because I will be working as a pharmacist under the government for 4 years (houseman). And that is genuinely the starting pay for a fresh grad. This is also the reason for starting a business only 11 years later. I will need time to build up my network, capital and do a lot of market research. Actually now that you mention it, I reckon I can cut short to less than 10 years. I'm not looking at just a retail community pharmacy but rather, starting up a pharmaceutical company.

I know I have to read up a lot on investments before I go into one. My own parents always advise me about having savings and making investments but they haven't been in much of luck in this area so they can't advise me much. Any recommendation on where/what would be a good start?

Right now I just have a rough idea about forex, shares, unit trusts and gold from this forum.

Or, would it be wiser to just let my savings sit in FD if I'm not too confident with other investments?

This post has been edited by baoz: May 2 2011, 06:04 PM

10k is not a huge sum, but its not a small amount either. I would suggest you keep these cash in your FD as emergency funds.
Your priority at the moment is to concentrate in your studies, get good grades and graduate with impressive academic results.

Educate yourself on financial management and investments, there are many good books out there written by experts themselves. We malaysians are lucky as we have a few good local financial gurus i.e. azizi ali, milan doshi, yap ming hui, peter chia etc. Start reading and learn about different investment vehicles.

Once you graduate and started working, chart down your monthly estimated expenses and income, aim to save about 30-50% of your monthly income. Then use these new earned money for investments. i.e. stock market, unit trust, properties etc, depending on your risk appetite.
Don't worry too much, you should invest in yourself first. Things will come clear eventually.

Just my 2 cents worth of opinion, hope it makes sense.
All the best.

Thanks a lot Silverfox. That does make sense. I'm worried about the escalating cost of living here in KL and was hoping I won't "drown" in it. Many friends and relatives who have worked for 5-8 years are just barely making ends meet.

Thinking abit too much when I've not even graduated.