2015 Year End Financial Tips... (Read this before 31st Dec 2015)

Hope this is not too late. With all the impending increases of various prices, we all in Malaysia already feeling the pinch of rising cost of living. The good news is there is a fresh year coming, while the bad news is the situation was expected to persist until mid-2016, at least. Hope some of the financial tips listed in this article may help you a bit.

2015 is coming to an end this Thursday and before we enter into 2016, here are few of the items that you may don't want to missed out. Either it may help you to saved some money, or give you some bargain that you may have overlooked.

US Fed Rate Hike: Good or Bad? How is it going to impact Malaysia?

Everyone are anxiously waiting for the outcome of Federal Reserve of US (FED) tonight. If the rate was really raised, it will be the turning point of the interest rate direction. Should FED make the decision to hike it, is it good or bad for the global economy? And most importantly, how is it going to impact Malaysia?

It's not news anymore since we're talking about this FED rate hike issue one and half year ago. But, the fact is, it does really has a great impact to the world economy, and Malaysia cannot spare from it either.

Generally, below is the 3 possible outcome of 16th Dec 2015 and the possible reactions of global markets:

PRS Funds List Update and How to make PRS Transfer ? (Dec 2015)

Since the first PRS fund was launched in year 2012, many Malaysian already invested in it because of the PRS Tax Relief and PRS Youth Incentive given by the government. After awhile, many of us started to compare different funds from different PRS providers. It's very normal. So, the information below may helps you.

First, there are still 8 approved PRS providers in the market. But, number of funds already increased to a total of 50 PRS funds for us to choose from. CIMB-Principal has the most number of funds with 10, while RHB has the least at 3 only. Please refer to below picture.

[Budget 2016] The "Diabetes-Free" Budget...

As expected, the Budget 2016 this round will concentrating on how to increase revenue of Government and spending cut due to lower oil revenue and subdued economic situation be it locally or globally.

Well, this is a "diabetes-free" budget without any "sugar" being dished out. Generally, it's not something to cheer about especially to those high income earners and businesses. In summary, please refer to below self-explained picture:

NEW Public Mutual PRS Fund: PRS Strategic Equity and PRS Equity

In addition to its existing PRS funds comprising 3 conventional core funds and 3 shariah core funds, Public Mutual right now is offering another 2 non-core PRS funds for investors to choose from.

What's the differences between this two new funds?

Weakening of Ringgit: Should we invest locally or abroad ??? (Aug 2015)

In the midst of weakening Ringgit currently, many investors are starting to feel uncertain about their next move. Should we invest locally or abroad going forward? What are the factors that we should consider?

In our opinion, we should go back to the basic of investing by answering these two simple yet mind-challenging questions:

New Fund: Public Select Treasures Equity Fund

Yet, another new fund from Public Mutual for investors to consider. The local fund house want to capitalize on its local expertise by launching this new local fund which seeks to achieve capital growth over the medium to long-term period by investing in a portfolio of investments comprising small and medium-sized companies in terms of market capitalisation from diversified economic sectors.

Only local? How about foreign markets?

The valuable lesson taught by GREECE... (For Malaysia...)

Ever since the beginning of the whole episode of the GREECE problem which caught the attention of the world, do you really know what's the root of the problem? Is it the people? Or, the lack of natural resources? Or, politicians?

Let's have a read here...

What's Boutique Fund Manager ?

Good news to all young and talented fund managers in the country. Securities Commission of Malaysia (SC) further liberalize the capital market by introducing a new category of fund management license recently called "boutique fund management" license.

What's so exciting about it?

Kenanga ASEAN Tactical Total Return Fund

Being a part of ASEAN, we living in Malaysia has seen the growth of the region for the past so many years. Would you like to participate in it? If yes, you should continue read on...

How good is ASEAN ???

IKEA Malaysia Whatspp Survery? Phishing Scam?

Recently, there is a purported IKEA survey and contest which promises FREE IKEA gift card worth RM5,000 spreading across social media, particularly Whatsapp messaging application.

It's just another phishing scam survey?

New Fund: PB Dividend Builder Equity Fund

Dividend funds have been the favour of investors when uncertainty of markets take place. The current situation of the market is just like that.

What's the strategy of the fund?

Want to be an UBER driver in Malaysia? You should read this first...

Undeniably, more and more Malaysians are flocking to the un-conventional way of hiring the taxi service via various applications such as UBER. In fact, everyone also can become a UBER driver as long as you have a car and a driving license. Then, you can start making some pocket money by providing the taxi service as and when you want to.

In Malaysia, you should think again from now onward after reading this...

Investing in Thailand's Kra Canal project? Let's read first...

It comes to our attention that some of our readers attended an investment seminar recently about this Kra Canal project. What's that actually? Is it another investment scam?

An interesting project...

Personal Tax Relief for YA2014

Coming to the last weekend of personal income tax e-filing (if without any extension period), here is the updated list of various tax relief granted for your reference. Not much changes from YA2013, except on the following items:

• NO more special tax relief of RM2,000 (ONLY available for YA2013)
• Reminder: Each unmarried child 18 years old and above, with certain condition as shown in picture below, has been increased to RM6,000 since YA2013.

You may also read our previous tax-related posts below:

• Tax Relief from Life Insurance YOU must know
• Tax Benefits of Unit Trust YOU must know
• What are the Tax Benefits from Private Retirement Scheme (PRS) ?

The 4 New EPF Initiatives... Good or Bad ?

After EPF announcing that they would like to propose 4 new initiatives to improve the current scheme, many Malaysian voiced their concern especially on the withdrawal age. What are these initiatives actually? How is going to affect us? And, most importantly, is it a good or bad move?

From 21st April till 5th May (two weeks only), EPF members are encouraged to participate in the survey being conducted by the board via their EPF i-Akaun such as below.

Introducing the all NEW EPF Members Investment Scheme Information Portal (April 2015)

Another very good initiative by the Employee Provident Fund (EPF), a new online portal was launched today to provide the necessary information for all EPF members who conduct their own research and survey on all unit trust funds that were offered under the EPF Members-Investment Scheme (EPF-MIS). Most importantly, it's FREE !!!

The portal named "EPF Members Investment Scheme Information Portal" is managed by an external party and it is accessible as long as the member have an EPF i-Akaun log in.

How to access?

What is PTPTN Income Contingent Loan ?

Most of the Malaysian who study local universities will borrow from the National Higher Education Fund Corporation (PTPTN). Meaning all of those undergraduates are actually indebted when they further their tertiary studies. Well, this is consider a good debt instead if you finished your study and get a good job to repay back the loan later.

However, statistic shows that many of those graduates defaulted their PTPTN loan after graduating from universities. Few years back, government even reduces the loan interest from 3% to 1% p.a. but yet still no improvement. How about 20% discount if you settled off your loan in one lump sum?

Still not enough...

How GST affecting our Share investment?

This is another topic on GST awareness. This time we talk about share market investment, your share trading account and transaction costs. Every share investor should read this article. Let's start here...

Many share investors already started their "wait and see" approach since last week because many of us don't know how GST is going to impact our share investment after 1st April 2015.

[GST] Car Prices will Drop? (March 2015 Update)

It's been hotly speculated by all Malaysian since the day one goods and services tax (GST) being announced. Malaysia being one of the highest car ownership country in the world, anything to do with car prices definitely will become the nation's topic. Here, we look at this topic as a whole with the latest updates:

Why everyone speculating that car prices will drop?

[Credit Card] What are the Changes after GST implementation?

For credit card holders, there is confusion on how GST is being charged. Over here, we are talking about the service tax and annual fee. Currently, there is a RM50 service tax on principal card holder and RM25 service tax on supplementary card holder. After 1 April 2015, this service tax will be abolished due to the implementation of GST.

How about the annual fee?

Explaining the Currency Dilemma of Ringgit... (March 2015)

While writing this post, major dailies are reporting that our currency Ringgit (MYR) is weakening against USD drastically. Yes, it does pose some financial risk to our country. We can't deny that we are on the losing side now and we as a Malaysian should know what's happening now.

Why Ringgit so weak?

[GST] How it affects our Life Insurance policy? (March 2015)

Everyone cannot runaway from Goods and Services Tax (GST) which is going to be implemented starting 1st April 2015. How about our life insurance policy? How is it going to affects our policy then? All types of coverage also subject to GST?

Unfortunately, most of our life insurance policy coverage also will be subject to GST charges. It depends on what type of life insurance policy you mention. It could be pure life, endowment, child education, medical and health, personal accident or annuity plans.

Understanding the NEW Base Rate effective Jan 2015

New year always come with some new changes. In 2015, we have this thing called "Base Rate" (BR) which will replace the previous Base Lending Rate (BLR) we commonly used for years. What does it mean? What are the differences? How much is the rate actually?

The new system of pricing...

With the new base rate, banks are allowed to price their loans products more efficiently based on their ability. How is the computation method being used for base rate? Read our previous explanation here...

The New Rate for different banks...

How to Responsibly Use & Manage a Credit Card Account ?

Using a credit card doesn’t have to be difficult, but there are a few guidelines to follow in order to successfully manage your financial accounts, then you’ll be ready to go !!!

Be prompt

First of all, pay your balance on time. This is probably the most important factor in determining whether your credit score improves or not. If you don’t pay your bill on time, your APR may be raised, and there will likely be a fee. A great way to remember to pay your bills on time is to set up a reminder on your calendar. Google Calendar is a great option that alerts you via phone or email when something is due.

Watch the watchers