You're young, why limit yourself to "low risk investments"? You CAN afford to take some risk, TIME is your most valuable asset. You can consider to invest in some mid-risk unit trust funds, since u already building an emergency reserve of RM300 a month.

As a rule of thumb, make sure to have an emergency reserve of at least 3 months of your net income.  Once that is achieved, INVEST, don't let your excess cash sit in bank earning zero/meagre interest.

Btw, where are u storing your emergency reserve?  1-month fixed deposit(s)?

under normal condition, it is best to pay off loan as soon as possible....but I would suggest that you keep the RM 390 saved and reinvested.. this is built up your "CASH" reserved" for a few years just in case something unexpected popped up later.....(ex...motor got stolen, brother needed a bike later to start work, replace a new TV, family member hospitalized, etc...)
because most "investment" vehicles expects investor to stay invested for "at least a few years" to enable reasonable ROI.

Oh u just started out...it's very good that u started to have financial consciousness at such young age.

Yes, it'd be a good idea; every few months u go place a RM1K FD. Don't put long-term, 2-month tenure (for 1-month tenure, min. amount is RM5K) would do since it's just an emergency reserve, u wouldn't want to place a 12-months FD and then having to withdraw it at 11th month and lose 1/2 of the contracted rate.

Focus on building sufficient emergency reserve first, then only think about investments.

Over long term (10 years and above), a well-managed fund can quite safely outperform your housing loan interest rate. As I've said, u have time on your side, you're young, u can withstand the temporary shocks that the market might present you.

If you don't wanna worry too much/spend too much time learning and monitoring, I'd suggest that you pick 1 good "balanced" fund and just do monthly Dollar Cost Average on it (e.g. invest RM200 into it no matter what happens), over time u should see the fruits.

U can learn about unit trusts from Public Mutual thread, Fund Investment Corner and Fundsupermart.com threads here.

Allocate all your excess cash into building up the reserve first, don't invest anything for now.

Wow...u want 5 times of your salary...net or gross?

There are many schools of though on this...I personally prefer to use "x number of months' cash requirement" method, e.g. I know with fair certainty that I need RM2K a month, and I want to have 6 months of reserve, so my reserve would be RM2K x 6 = RM12K

Maybe u just started working, u don't have past records to aid u in determining your average monthly cash needs, perhaps it'd be better that u use the "net salary" basis.

I think 3-6 months would be ok, IF your job has reasonable security. For ppl whose job is not that secure and/or got dependents and/or heavy commitments, they might have up to 24 months of reserve.

Starz92,

Like someone in the thread says, it's a good thing that you've come into "financial consciousness" at such a young age.

in my opinion, it would really depend on the reason you are investing into a low cost apartment. Is it for own stay or investment?

If it's for investment, I'd say don't go for such property at all. Put all 300 + your extra 890 into building your emergency cash first since your target is quite high, i.e. 6 months your basic salary. I suggest you put this into a track proven mid-risk unit trust fund but never into an insurance endowment plan due to the lack of liquidity.

In probably less than a year, you'll achieve your target then you start looking for a property for investment. The advise is go for new properties with DIBS and downpayment rebates.

if the apartment you're planning to buy is a must, due to working location or etc. Why not start with renting a room so that you could save more to achieve your target emergency cash...