Hi,
I'm fresh graduated. Already work for 3months.
And, I didn't see any saving! Help me!

My current salary: 1800 (after deduct epf sosco)
My fixed expense: car loan (Saga FL) 430
                            fuel                    370 (50/3-4days)
                            gv mom              500
                            makan      around  250
                            phone      around 200

balance left 50 for other expense! like entertainment, buy things and others!

So every end of month, surely got no saving! (at least these 3months, don't have =().
And this month onwards, another commiment will add, which is PTPTN, hv to pay around 100-200.

So, need some advise from you guys, how do I survive in such situation!
(Pls do not ask me the cut this cut that, as this is my lifestyle, I blive most of ppl are hard to change, right?), what I wanna know is, how to gerenate more money with money. INVESMENT! thanks! =)

p/s: my so called INVESTMENT knowledge is nearly equal to zero... *shame!

I really want to share here....

15-17% p.a return...
Time period 5-7 years.
Update frequently.
Low risk.
Big capital.
Might double you capital in 7 years.

Interested fellow please to ask me.

Thanks bro for your explanation. For the last part of your sentence, you mention if someone go for FD is because they have good management in controlling outflow and inflow of cash?

Yes, I didn't do any study regarding investment which leads me to loss I think but I kinda feel boring reading all those stuff but maybe will change mind in the future.

Anyway, any advice for me? Actually I missed out one more expenses. Phone installment for gf cost rm 85 and installment for medical card cost rm 50 a month. Can help me recaculate and what I should do now with existing FD

Thanks!!

save hard and then do what? invest? or buy more things?

bro - missed out one more, giving back (estate planning) 
The basics will always be the same, the killer is the different specifics that works well for each individual.

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Added on August 15, 2012, 9:30 amSomething to share on insurances - thoughts of a trained actuary and CFA:

http://www.investmentmoats.com/budgeting/i...mple-insurance/

Opinions from a trained actuary: Stick to simple insurance
Posted by DrizztAugust 15, 2012

In my insurance blast these few weeks, we talked about a particular trained field of mathematicians who assist in valuing the risks of insurance products, how they don’t seem to buy whole life insurance and investment linked policies.

I managed to get into contact with a US investment professional David Merkel. David is a trained life actuary as well as a CFA. He current managed his own fund, Aleph Investments, and talks about investment mainly in the domain of bonds and insurance companies at The Aleph Blog.

So I pose this question to David:
When I know that you are trained as an actuary it got me curious. They say that actuary assess the risks of insurance products to find value for consumers, at the same time evaluate the probable risks of the product.
What kind of insurance does an actuary actually buy for his and his family? Insurance are often sold with economic bias so what better way to know then find out from people that use actual data and determined it through quantifiable methods.

I heard that actuaries often buy only term life insurance only and that investment linked and limited whole life policies do not make sense. At the same time, it would seem that the way you can claim critical illness is such that most of the time you can claim it, you are almost very disabled or near death. In such a scenario wouldnt [sic] a pure death and tpd [sic] term life be suffice?

David’s reply was as follows:
This is my opinion, given my dealings among actuaries.  I could be wrong.  Actuaries avoid complexity in insurance products.  Why?  In general, complex products hide high profit margins.  Products that are easy to analyze, like term life insurance, are competitive, and profit margins are low.

The same is true for savings products, like deferred annuities.  Actuaries tend to buy simple products that cover basic needs.

Also, they tend to use insurance as catastrophe cover, because they know that having insurance companies pay on a lot of small claims is expensive on average.

There is an exception to all of this.  If you are so rich as to need to stiff the taxman, buying cash value insurance policies can make a lot of sense.  In that case, wealthy actuaries with clever tax advisors buy cash value life insurance.  Death benefits do not pass through the estate.
Actuaries are generally conservative, and avoid insurance products that are not easily analyzed.  That should be true of most insurance buyers.
I think that’s why my AIA insurance agent kept selling to me that his well heeled clients buy a lot of endowments.

We wonder whether many of us are in the same situation.
Whatever it is, the common myth in a person not knowledgeable in insurance is cheap equals lesser benefits. This sort of debunks it since guys factor in multi factors in their computation. Then again I could be wrong since there may be some important factors that were assumed, which could be gravely wrong when put into practice.

death/disease/disability + medical insurances? Yup
And no, no endowments - not mega millionaire yet, thus can't afford to take 2%+ to 4%+/- returns for long term locked-in "investments", unless there is a tax relief tagged to it ('ala PRS and/or annuities)

Y ar bro?

Hehhe - i know the feeling.
I had investment-linked insurances + whole life insurances before too.

IMHO, it's VERY easy and cost effective to compare and get death/diseases/disability (3D) TERM insurances.
Heck, the best bang for the buck i saw thus far (again, i'm not omniscient ok - haven't seen 100% of everything) is the Public Mutual's group insurance underwritten by Great Eastern, for its investors.
RM1,100 pa - from my memory (please check website yar) covers $200K death or up to $400K permanent disability or $400K critical illness
RM550 pa - for $100K, $200K, $200K
etc.
I only need my 3D insurances to cover up to 55 as i won't be earning an income by then, my investment assets will. Thus, need no "replacement income" WHEN i kick the bucket after 55 - no impact on my loved ones.
Note - if U have outstanding mortgages, U may want to have 3Ds running UNLESS yr mortgages have MRTA.

As for medical - a bit harder to compare as many clauses are different.
In addition, some prefers non-term insurances for medical due to riders and stuff.
Personally, i aim to self-insure by 55 for 3D & medical, thus i'm going with term insurance for medical. Note however, most term insurances for medical does not have riders and can insure only up to 75 (renewals only from 60 onwards or so).

Well, personally i terminated my PRU & AIA, even though "painful"
Thinking like an investor - cut loss or continue holding kaka? Zero-holding thinking - if i were not holding this, would i now buy this or buy others of more value?

Just bouncing some thoughts/ideas with U yar - not 100% gospel truths. 

Hi Sifus,

Need some advice on managing my own finances.

I'm 20 years old right now, still a student. Another 2 years before I graduate.
No income, fully depending on family for now.

It's holiday right now so I thought might as well start to plan for future.

I have around 18k of savings. All in FD.
Looking for some alternative investments right now.

Currently I have no goals to acquire anything.
Family has cars, own a small apartment. Enough for living.
I don't see myself the need to purchase any car/property for the next 10 years.
Family cash flow is fine. No burden on me yet.
But still I feel like doing something with that sum of money.
You can't depends on your family your whole life right?
So I might as well start now.
I'm a very risk adverse person, maybe because I'm still a student and with no income. So equity/forex is a no for me.

I'm quite interested in Unit Trusts / Funds.
Bought "Mutual funds for dummies", read it. Not really useful.
IMO they just provide those very general information.

I am actually thinking of investing in bond funds or REITs. Then I'll properly sell it off 5-7 years down the road and invest in other things. Any advice or recommendation on this?

Hmm, thanks for the head up. Will do.

Good piece of advice. Guess I just can't ram into anything straight away. 

We (husband & wife) has not much investment portfolio and these years just saved and accumulated emergency fund of 16 months of our total gross income. All into FD and ASB only.
We have one children, and one to be due end this year.

My question is:

1.) Do i still continue keep saving or shall i start to invest in shares, properties & etc? Do 16 months emergency funds sufficient for rainy days?

I use credit card v rebate at this moment . Maybank American Express v RM 50 rebate for every RM 1000 (capped) spend. It's mean 5%. Since I'm going to use to buy groceries, petrol , outside food, I assume is 5% rebate.
But I have to be very discipline to clear all in a month without any outstanding. Each time I swipe the card, I put the cash in a coin box together v the receipt. At the end month, the total money in the coin box is slightly more compare to the actual amount I have to pay (due to rebate). The extra I put in another box. This is how I save by spending.

Please bear in mind not all merchant accept American Express... Hehe:)

hi morning everyone,

i and few friend doing graphic design company, income quite steady , but the problem i like buy a lot of new gadget , cant save money >.< any suggestion to ?