Need something better and more powerful than my Excel spreadsheet in monitoring my dollars and cents. Used MS Money in the past (at beginner's level). MS Money has been discontinued since a few years ago.

Since we have a similar interest in growing our $, and you may be using a personal finance software (expenses, budget, retirement). If so, please let me know if you find it a good software to use.

Please PM to me to avoid crowding this thread. Later I will revert for all a simple summary of what I get from the PMs.

Moderator, my apology for this slightly off the subject thread.

Cheerio.

Sorry, what I meant was the difficulty in getting Excel to do what I wanted. The problem I was facing was "circular reference". That is, cell A uses cell B value for a calculation but later cell B uses cell A value for calculation. After some thinking, managed a way around this circular reference. Though I managed to get this done, the programming structure is messy using the front end Excel ( vs FORTRAN or VB). May try to tidy this up using VBA behind Excel later.

Found this http://www.torrid-tech.com/

Close to what I am doing in Excel but mine is more customised - multiple income streams, ability to select which investment to use first (of course, the one with the lowest return) etc.

Also found this http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/se...0and%20business

Like I said earlier, MS Money has been stopped/put in cold storage now. but MS is so nice that they issue a final free software MS Money Plus Sunset. Link to download is as above. No update or support service with this free software. Should be more than adequate for me for my daily $ recording (but look ahead $ planning may not be what I need. Will check later).

PM to me please as not to crowd this thread with off-the-topic discussions.

Thanks.

Cheerio.

Got eFDs due today in my MB a/c. Opened one FD at SCB with the top up 6 % promotion.

I thought with modern advances, opening an FD should be easy and quick. This one took quite some time, lots of paper to sign.

Luckily I did a quick check as the doc I was supposed to sign for was the previous promotion at 5.88%.

Look forward to higher still FD % in Q4.

Cheerio.

Read in Oct's Personal Money magazine something too good to be true. Page 43 states " A notable mention is Alliance Bank's Alliance Buddy account which gives bonus interest of 10% on the total yearly interest."

Don't have Alliance bank in my town. Give them a call if you are interested. And keep me posted. Thanks.

Better terminate all my FDs now. Found another one with 20% in the table in the subsequent page!

If it is like what MilesAnd More has said, wish that they will put it in simple term which ordinary people can understand, rather than trying to sound very attractive only to mislead customers.

Finding more and more mistakes in PMoney after many years of subscribing to it (wrong calculations, wrong theory background, typing mistakes etc ). Expect a higher quality/calibre magazine with correct data/infor.

My 2 cents.

HL has a 6 months @ 3.5% FD package. Got free gifts - coffee maker, fan, etc etc., depending on the FD amount. Limited units, first come first serve.

For more infor, check with HL.

Is FD dividend taxable ?

Less than RM100k, no tax ?

Or no tax for any amount ?

Thanks.

Had a look at MB web site. Can't find the +2% information for I-Mudharabah.

Please provide the web link.

Many thanks.

many thanks !

This post has been edited by plumberly: Oct 15 2012, 10:16 PM

magika,

Many thanks.

With the many replies over the last few days, I am a bit lost on where to go. Your lastest update is great. Only problem is my FD will mature on 16 Nov. So have to find out from the 2 banks on how I can get it down within the day.

Cheerio.

Thanks.

Just saw the MD promo in the Star. Noted it is a top up to 4.4% and not 4.4% for the whole 9 months. I am getting tired of banks doing this sort of promo. In some way, tricking customers if they don't read it carefully.

Cheerio.

Speaking my mind on the FD rate, I think there will be a drop in the rate after the BNM meeting in early Nov. Why ?

Thailand has reduced their rate recently. And crisis in Europe is getting worse.

To keep our business/economy above the critical level, they need to help with a lower borrowing cost.

I hope I am wrong. I have a few FD due in Nov and Dec.

avfan,

Good point on the GE13. Then 99.9% probaility that the BLR will reduce in early Nov.

Cheerio.

From memory, I think when one withdraws an FD before its maturity date, whether one gets no interest or a partial interest depends on the duration the FD has been active.

E.g., a 1 year FD at 4% p.a., one withdraws it after 8 months, I think one is still entitled to y% x principal x 8/12 where y will be less than 4.

Of course, we want the full interest but in case one needs to terminate it before the maturity date, check this partial interest with the bank and hopefully one will get some $$ interest.

My 2 cents.

My gut feel was wrong as I expected BNM to reduce the rate. Nonetheless, better for me to earn more $ for my emergency money.

3 things to share.

a. Withdrew my HL FDs for new FDs at BR today. Asked for a banker's cheque and was told a charge of RM5.15 even for premier customer. Later, they refunded the RM5 as the manager said no charge for premier member even wihout me making a noise on the charge. Thanks to the manager.

b. Opened FDs at BR asking for a higher FD rate, on top of the 0.05% I was offered on the phone yesterday. Much to my surprise, they gave me 4.11% for a year (amount is RMx00k). Will go and buy some durians tomorrow. They got some computer issue with my FD and I still have not got the FD receipts. Hope to get them by Monday. Still can see many chinese opening FD at BR.

c. Disappointing with UOB. Went there about 2 months ago and the lady said she would come back to me on a higher FD rate by late Oct as I intended to open one in mid Nov. No reply from her. SMS to remind her. No response. Called her and she said she would check with the HQ. No reply. Called her this morning. She was not in and her colleague helped me. She checked with HQ and they said they can only offer higher FD rate for amount > RM 1 million. If she told me earlier, I would not be chasing her for an answer. Not impressed with UOB and the lady.

Cheerio.

My 4.11% pa is yearly.

Cheerio.

joshualy,

My calculations say the slow way is better off by about RM200 only. My assumptions :
* RM41250 capital available now
* 2 options - the slow way or the fast way
* start in 2013 and see how much money one has at the end of 2026 for the 2 options.
* capital not used will earn FD interests for the 2 options.

Let me know your email address and I will send you my spreadsheet. You may see some errors in there as I forced myself this morning to use my left hand in using the mouse (got rash on my right wrist for using the mouse too much lately).

So which option to use ? The breakeven point is when FD rate is about 3% pa. Consider future FD rate in your analysis/decision. Good luck!

P/S These are only my estimates and I may be way off. I am not an accountant, only an engineer. Use it on your own risk and I accept no liability etc. Sorry.

This post has been edited by plumberly: Nov 18 2012, 10:49 AM

Glad that you got the additional 0.05%! A few hundreds dollar worth.

Very surprised that BR allowed some changes to completed FDs especially for a govt/stick to the rules company. Nonetheless, glad that you got it. It pays to ask. Ha.

Cheerio.

Had another FD at BR yesterday but smaller amount (<RM50k). Asked for the 4.11% and after he checked inside (I think he called the state BR HQ for approval), answer was no. Said I need a larger amount to get the 4.11%

Yes, the extra 0.05 + 0.05% depend on the amount. Actual amount, sorry, I do not know.

Got 3 shoe bags and 1 backpack as gifts. Asked for the pen, they don't have any spare. Pity.

Cheerio.