I just received this reply from Bank Consultant -
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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.

THANK YOU SilverfoX,
I'm going to forward this to my teens. The key point is INVEST IN YOURSELF FIRST... what a gem of wisdom.

Hi howszat and baoz,
I see hope in the future when young people start thinking about their future, instead of playing computer games like there's no tomorrow. I'd like to encourage you and add on to SilverfoX's thoughts...

Instead of worrying about the future, begin YOUR Dream today, dream BIG and learn all you can - remember no learning and no experiences are ever wasted. More importantly, don't let your passions slip away. Life is similar to the stock market - whatever goes up will come down; and whatever goes down and when it hit rock bottom will certainly bounce back one day. Never ever give up.

Please view The Power of Possibility Thinking (flash) - A powerful short presentation created for all who wish to be all they can be.

On future investments, no harm learning about it now. Gold is a good option. However, an important question to consider is how much to put in any investment instrument as they ALL have risks. Never put all your eggs in one basket. Diversify. Read How Much Gold Should You Buy? -- this can be applied to other investment instruments.

All the best in your future endevours. I sincerely believe you'll go far as you are thinking ahead. You will naturally work towards it. It's one of the Laws of the Universe.

This post has been edited by PatEagle: May 4 2011, 03:19 PM

SilverfoX, I LOVE your signature,
The hardest man in the world to beat is the man who can laugh in the face of defeat.

Would be really nice to add yours to the Chinese quote, literal translation that says..
"Horse die, come down to the ground and walk."

Cheers!

Well, i think i'm a bit late for my future planning. At age 26, no savings at all, quit my job on last Sept and gonna work again starting next monday with RM2k salary. And i have to travel far from home to Cyberjaya daily. Am single, not staying with family (renting), work Mon - Fri, 8.30 am - 5.30pm

EPF: 220
Rental: 250
Car: 450
Toll MEX Highway - RM3 return x 22 days working = 70
Phone: 30
Petrol: RM200 - RM250 (I'm uncertain of this)
Daily Meal - RM450 (please teach me how to set budget RM300 per month)
Education Loan: RM50

Balance only RM230.

I wish I could spend only RM450 per month. I spend at least RM600 per month. I don't cook so I always eat out and prefer expensive restaurants.

u borrow ptptn pay rm50/month?

Hi MNHMA,

at 26 & U r looking into Personal Financial Management = you'll be doing more than alright as U grow

Heck, you've got balance of RM230 monthly! Most of the youngsters i know (yeah - i'm soon 40) have a negative amount spending via credit card (with owed monthly uncleared), mostly on lifeSTYLE, instead of LIFEstyle

Just know that a great tree grows from but a seed. U need to LEARN $ mgt / risk mgt and investment vehicles + how to leverage on your EPF / Cash / Knowledge & Skill. It's actually kind of a grand plan that we start with little and learn from there. If we had tons, we'll never learn OR lose more while beginning our learning

Learning = preparing yourself for opportunities
Saving = preparing your ammunition for those opportunities
Multiply those and you're on a sure fire way to your goals & targets.

Bro, are you sure at age 26 and only starting to look into Personal Financial Management is alright?
I am 27 and my child is due soon in another 3 months.
Total combined income of me+wife is around 6.5k with 30% savings monthly, excluding annual bonuses and incentives.

Bro (i refuse to call U St****Bump ), yes i'm sure.

Hey, yr partner & U doing 30% savings is GREAT! Excluding annual bonuses & incentives too - whoa
If U do a spreadsheet on:
30% net salary savings (i "ass u me" U save the bulk of yr bonuses and incentives, not use it to cover spending), thus spend 70% only
AND 8%pa to 10%pa returns on that 30% net savings
U'll see that in about 12 to 14 years time your returns from your grown savings --> investment --> investment cycle will cover your 70% expenditure.

This is a simple calc - assuming no inflation. However if U add in inflation, it'll be a few more years. Hey - U being financially free or with much more options in about 12 years means (27+12) = 39 years old! U tell me who doesn't want that? Even if U factor in inflation, U will definitely be in good shape BEFORE forced retirement. BTW, all these are EXCLUDING your employer's + your EPF savings as well. Good or good?

If U want to have the spreadsheet, drop me an email / pm on how to send U (or post here? unsure how to do so).
I've also other spreadsheets like:
a. calculating how much U need by retirement, based on your current expenses pa (assuming this is the lifestyle U want), factoring in inflation and expected total average investment returns pa
b. net worth tracking
c. EPF tracking and extrapolation, broken down to A/C1 & A/C2 & even leveraging a/c1 for mutual fund investments. Has manipulatable variables like expected bonuses pa, expected salary increase pa, expected % from EPF pa, expected % from Mutual Funds pa, expected costs of Mutual Funds pa, expected entry costs of Mutual Funds pa.
Er.. too many to list here - even statistical comparisons of DCA vs VCA vs combination of both, statistical stuff on EPF, BLR, KLSE, Public Mutual's funds financial ratios, etc.

FYI - I'm a nut in "being as sure as possible" by doing statistical & financial calculations - what to do, i'm a working ant not a bizman, thus need to ensure $ work harder than me + some sort of assurance i'm on the right track. Heck, i've not met a person as crazy as me as to have a will + list of assets/insurances & how to get to them + how to manipulate them to live on them forever (assuming spending about $2K pm lar)

Ah - found out i can share via GoogleDocs.
My usual = YELLOW CELLS are variables that U can manipulate
Savings: https://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=0Aq...uthkey=CPz7k4gG
U can go there, FILE | SAVE AS > EXCEL and manipulate it from there

Hm.. can anyone tell me how to LOCK / PROTECT the cells in GoogleDoc while enabling a few cells to me manipulate-able? Worry JoePublic changes the formulas and others get wrong results

This post has been edited by wongmunkeong: May 16 2011, 08:19 AM

My cousin had an existing house loan of RM70k which he would like to refinance as the market price of the house would be around RM150k. However, he is 50+ years old and bank does not approve higher loan. Can he add in a 3rd party into the existing bank loan to get higher loan? Even though this 3rd party is not the owner?

This is to avoid the selling and buying cost.

Read through your excel file.

In fact I have calculated the way that you do, but I only find this formula quite insecure, and it would be very tiring. 20 years later, no doubt you can save up RM500K or so, but don't forget this hasn't included the inflation, and your medical fee when you are old. If you have children, where do you want your children go for education? If you are staying with parents, is the house under your name in future? Or you got to buy a new house or second-hand house? If you are buying, I don't think the RM500K is enough for retirement.

That's why I said, the conventional saving plan (save up certain percent monthly from young), may not enough for your retirement.

Hi DebbieYSS. This spreadsheet is a "simple" version, for people "toe-ing" into the idea of saving XX% of net pay.

Much more in-depth version also ada - taking into account of inflation and one version, even taking into account of segregating $ into "pots" , retirement pot + child education pot. I'll add it to the google docs later with the rest of the Excels /PowerPoints U asked about in another thread/topic . My only worry is most people (unless statistically & financially literate) will be overwhelmed. I'll try it out later and see if anyone curses

As for home, i'm in one and still paying off. Note that the mortgage goes into my necessities (50% of net pay).
Thus, the "problem" i find with most buyers = they'll buy the biggest house they can afford now (i did the same thing last time and nearly killed me). A house is a BLACK HOLE OF $ sucking evil UNLESS U can rent it out well. Heck, worse still, the bigger and better location it is, the more services cost (like repairs, maintenance & renovation). Dont believe me? U go try asking the same contractor to do the same thing at SS3 semi-Ds VS Puchong Terrace.

Now, i'm happily in a house with a mortgage less than 20% of my net salary.
Before U think i'm making 10s of thousands, let me just say i earn less than $8K pm ok. High? maybe higher than some BUT definitely lower than most high fliers. "One Mountain got One Mountain bigger"
With the mortgage less than 20% of my net pay, everything else fell into place + to make it EVEN easier on me, i rented out 2 of my rooms to friends or friends' friend. Woohoo!

Ooo did i mention i'm driving a 19 to 20 yr old Wira? In good condition (no black smoke, good tyres & brakes, can run 175km/h UPHILL at NKVE) but just old. Hhehe - it's a choice, my girl's education & my financial security comes first, then only a changgih house (personal use), then a changgih car (if ever - actually last on my list)

This post has been edited by wongmunkeong: May 16 2011, 01:09 PM

wongmunkeong, ok thanks.

I think you can straight away attach the file here, no need to upload your file to Google one...

Look forward to download your excel file.

Just use standard retirement calculators on the web, they will give you enough information to plan for your retirement. For the retirement calculation, you can plan for the following.

1. Estimated monthly expenses you will need, including medical, food, lodging, travel etc.
2. Years to retirement, add inflation (I use 5%). The length of retirement is irrelevant as my asset should yield income perpetually. Later can pass on to your kids.
3. You will get the total amount you need ( I need multi-million ). I also use 4% yield for calculation for perpetual income.
4. From there you can calculate your earnings yield (I use 8%), and the amount of money invested over time.

Saving earlier is much better as you will allow the magic of compounding to start earlier. Then you can enjoy your later working life in peace as you no longer worry about retirement.

This post has been edited by gark: May 16 2011, 01:19 PM