savings money is all about how you control your temptation.

how old are you if you don't mind me asking. I am 23 this year and I had 100k cashin my savings right now, and the only gadget that I have is a dopod windows mobile for online and leisure purpose such as games, videos, camera and mp3 all in one device. infact I never owned a pc before.

I too envy people who owned ubercool gadgets. but growing up from a poor family taught me how to control my temptation not to spend unnecessary. I don't have any debts as well as I don't like the feeling of owing ppl money, even to the banks, I like to settle everything as quick as possible because I don't like to pay extra interest charge. so I think that's my advice for your question 1&2. which is to control your temptation and try not to get involve with any debts, if you have to, settle it as soon as possible.

are you bumi, you can apply for asb?? so what are you waiting for?! asb is one of the best savings scheme in the world!! its safe and high dividend return.

no macbook for you unless you really have a purpose for it.

wah, 23 oni already had 100k..

ok, may be its not fair to campare with me because I work in overseas, my point is, although I got higher earnings than the average people, but I didn't resort to use the money to spend unnecessarily, I, same like any other teenagers, too, like cool gadgets like pc, phones, watches, lappy, expensive meals, clubbing etc, but what makes me stand out is I can control my temptation not to fall into it. everytime when I want to buy something, I will tell myself, If I buy this thing, that's equal to my 30 days salary, that's 30 days of my life time wasted just to buy this gadgets! does this gadget worth my 30 days of blood and sweat??

try to implant this mentality, I can be sure you will become stingy as well

i like your mentality..if only all girls think the way as u do..

yes boss ..... no purpose ...just my desire .... i will get it one day ...but not now i suppose .... i will listen to you guys ... since you guys more experience in financial management than i am ... tq

hey there,

financial management experts and wise advisors, i, too, like some of the users here, have a problem in managing my finances. well, in my case, i spend way MORE than i earn...and plus, i am still a student, aged 19... So, i am hungrily seeking advices from you experts out there on how can i overcome my financial crisis. Here it goes :

Monthly income : RM200

Monthly expenses :

Prepaid - RM70

Food - RM80

miscellaneous(stationeries,gifts,donations...) - RM20

petrol - RM20

Balance = RM10 savings

But this is not usually the case. What sometimes surprises me is that, throughout the whole month, i have no savings at all!omg! therefore, i've tried a few solutions such as selling stuffs in lowyat(mind you ), doing some chores for mum or sis... And, i have read most of how-to-manage-your-finances posts, especially the earlier ones,but still trying to figure out on how to suit them into my situation. And as for the food, i brought home-made food at times, and am studying at a private college...so my friends can easily influence me to eat expensive food sometimes..well,my main problem is, i spent most of my money on the gifts. cos at times you have to incur quite a lot of sum on costly gifts...so..what should i do now? should i work part-time? should i this or that? im really looking forward for your advices...thank you guys/gals

This post has been edited by haafizo: Feb 1 2008, 01:50 AM

you are still a student, so don't expect too much and concentrate on your studies and good health by having enough rest to give you the energy needed to study.

theres not much that you can do since you are not working for full time yet, and are still petty much in the ok stage to be dependant on parents. just don't waste too much money on unnecessary things.

I am not from a wealthy family and I too studied in private college, I went trhough it as well, sure you will miss out lots of great time having fun with your mates but that's the way of life, it never been fair.

judging from your expenses description, you r still ok, if you really want some extra income you can try to look for hotels as a part time waiter during weekend. you can earn roughly rm50 for a night.

Oh alrightey then, i was thinking of like that too.Sorry for being so hyped up to manage my finances. Thank you for the advice, really appreciate it

nevermind, i think i'll focus on my studies too. Just that at times it's quite hard to control our temptation to spend.Since our mates get way more allowances than me. But it's okay, i'll focus on my study now so that i'll get a well-paid job later thank you, ah_suknat

Studying time... you will get into peer pressure among friends who has more money to spend than you. They can afford to go D or K few times every week, but if you don't join in, you are "out" from the group. Is it worth it to keep on spending money ?

I go through that before, and I choose not to join. I know I have to control my finance tight. After some time, I'm "out" from the group. But life moves on... and I find other groups of friends to join.

It's never too early to start managing your finance. Review it every 6/12 mths

clearly you and your friends relationship bond is not strong enough. me too had gone through exactly that situation but we didn't seperated each other just because I didn't join their hgh expense activities. we still maintain best friends.

The friendship bond is alright. But when your friends start checking what branded goods you wear, shirt, pants, belts, etc. all the time, I feel it is too "fake" on the outside. Packaging is nice, always chase for branded goods and always compare among themselves with ppl around them... I let go of the friendship... not the type of superficial ppl I like to hang out with, or for me to spend and dress up to be with them.

what is ur gf is 50% of ur income spend host?
how u guys tackle this. i mean, dont ask me to dump the gf and find other le. things wont work out. cause world 99% women is shopping mate !!!!

dumping is last resort la. being adults or coming to adulthood, that means both parties of the couple MUST learn to know how to spend wisely.

now the thing is 50% of your income on GF - what do you spend on? i'm going on assumption that you're referring to dating expenses, i think it's unwise to have 50% income spent on courtship / dating.

it doesn't make sense when your salary is low, and it still doesn't make sense when your salary is high. in fact the higher your salary, the % should be lesser or else it's ridiculous.

btw does your gf has her own income?

of coz she had her own income. now everything is money...meal, cinema, shopping.. dry up ur salary. ...

put into calculation 1 meal RM30 for 2 per dinner. imagine 15 days for a month alredy 400++
cinema .. once a week.. Rm20 for 2 and total is RM 80 permonth
most scariest is shopping. clothings monthly 200-300 is basic and u dont see much clothhings. maybe just 3 peice or 4. including shoes/bags/accessories/daily item.

without other etc. minimum expense is 1k to get GF.
50% i just simply put. . put it this way. if u have a pretty gf. then u more dry faster.

ok. how about letting her pay for her own things? you only pay for things that are your treat.




woah, pull the brakes!

RM 30 per dinner for 15 days. it doesn't make sense.

how about having fun cooking your own meal? or go for something cheaper once in a while.




RM 200 - 300 a month for clothing is

you don't need to change bags every month. neither do shoes. clothings? there's plenty of boutiques selling ladies outfit cheap.

you don't NEED to get branded goods, if you're going to change often then RM 150 can get you quite a few blouse and skirts already.




no way man. looks and character are 2 different things. just because one is pretty that doesn't mean one should go on a spend frenzy.

remember ah, if after you buy all those things (a.k.a. spend on her) and 1 day she leaves you (sorry i have to bring this in) then it's your loss and her finance is untouched.


both of you must really start to learn how to budget because spending in such manner isn't healthy.

Why are you spending so much on her, most girls work nowadays , just ask her to pay for her own stuff.

i really feel this topic is exiting now. cause never put it serious to control financial.

1. things cant change is man pay for the meal. yes i agree RM30 can bring down to RM15 for 2. nowadays everything is high. gf still gf. cant cook everyday right. still 300 is u cant get rid. dont forget. once is while u need to have a good dinner such as event. i mean once a month is okie. for RM50 above for both ppl enjoy. how much u can save??? RM100 is MAX.

2. movies.. mostly is my movies. and RM10 u want ur girls to pay? is it a bit over?

3. yes clothing i agree with u. i am cutting down. eventually 1 shoes from Vincci alredy 39.90. 1 blouse with sexy lances minumum also 39.90. RM 200 nothing much can buy. eventually she is paying her own also i am trying to reduce my parts. little gifts. u cant save. if u want happy without many arguements. 200 to 300 .. save RM150.. dont buy it everymonth . so u save another 150. total will be Rm250. not much

4. uncountable petrol. sometime need to fetch her. u know kl traffic how jammed. and place are not centralize. parking kill every weekend. tat is part of expenses. at lease 200 for that.

5. ya. pretty gf dont need so . but.. dont forget u dont ask for face only. u want with body. if tshirt always u also sien le. plus. girl stil girl .. if u dont pamper once .. can u asnwer urself. canot always naked right. u also wish to see nice tube. or ligeria... those are money killer. not to mention about accessiores

summary ... maybe i care my gf but i cant thing ways to reduce more. really not easy..

love87:
Is that you owe credit card debt 15k because spending on your gf?

well when i was dating, we actually have times when either i cook or she cooks. it's fun and cost saving and more healthy too!

sometimes i just make delicious sandwiches for both of us (yummy, make me hungry now!), now you consider bread + cheese + nuggets and a few other add ons, average to less than RM 5 per meal.



or course not everything la. this type of thing of course you pay looks gentlemen lor, after all working adult.

but clothings and such, why should you pay for it la? you buy your own stuff, she buy her own stuff is better. then you treat her once a while.

i put it this way la - WIFE type of treatment only WIFE get.



save little, long run save a lot. you don't need shoes every month. hehe. blouse? clothings RM 100 - 200 a month ok la, just have to know where to hunt. or better yet, wait for sale.



this one no choice. cut down # of times meet per month.

weekend don't go out, weekend meet at house. cut cost. go out on weekday nights. cheaper too.



refer to the above post - this is what i said "just because one is pretty that doesn't mean one should go on a spend frenzy. "

i didn't say DON'T BUY. c'mon, i gotta be kidding if i tell you that. point is that spend frenzy does not make you more beautiful. spend wisely and you'll be amazed how much you can reduce in cost and you get to mix and match clothes and styles.

adding a scarf or shawl or changing the configuration does make a difference.