Malaysia's Weekly Personal Finance Summary - April 22 2019

The Best Personal Finance Summaries - 22 April 2019

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Question of the week

What are you more likely to have happen next in your life: buy a house, or get married?

Let us know in the Facebook group

From Us

The huge differences in contracts that most people do not pick up on
Someone in the past reached out and asked about the Prulady insurance product (that we're super excited about) and was asking about this other benefit that we didn't know about.
Worried that we weren't living up to our promise (of always having your best interest at heart), we immediately called our financial advisor planner and asked her about it.
It turned out that there was another product similar to Prulady and when our advisor said it's inferior, we didn't just take her word for it.
Instead, we got her to give us a copy of all the similar products to it got her help to break down all the differences.
The results were shocking. There is a huge difference between one product and the other. In this specific case, the premium was 75% more!
Which is why we decided to create a comparison of all the female insurance products.

This is also a good reminder to always get a trusted professional to help you navigate the financial world, especially if you have no interest in spending dozen of hours researching it yourself. And if you don't know anyone you can trust, leave a message and we will direct one of our vetted partners to help out.

Money in Daily Life

Creating a Financial Plan: Highlights from Our Chat with Money Smart Week
This blog had a week long event where it surveyed the public for personal finance tips. They had a bunch of responses. But here are some of our favorites:

Financial goals:

Saving for a new home.
Retirement plans
Be debt-free.
How to successfully buy a home:
Save for down payment.
Use an Experienced Local Real Estate Agent.
Make sure your credit report is accurate.
How to keep their credit healthy:
Always check credit report.
Keep credit utilization at 10%.
Pay bills on time.
How to plan retirement:
Start saving.
How to invest:
Explore your options
Seek out a financial adviser.

5 tips on Traveling on a Budget

#1: Set a Budget and Savings Goal.

Know where you stand financially.
Set the savings goal.

#2: Visit during Off-Peak Season.

You can save much more if you go when the place has a low peak season.

#3: Flights: The 8-Week Rule and Tuesday Finds.

For international flights, the sooner you book, the better.
For domestic flights, 8 weeks prior to your trip is the best time
Sign on and check fares on Tuesdays, and save almost 15 percent.

#4: Hostels, Hotels and House Sharing.

Hostels are usually the cheapest around the globe.
Airbnb is a popular source for shared homes.
Hotels are guaranteed private and safe place to stay.

#5: Find Fixed-Cost Trips.

If you have a budget but don't want much planning for the trip, you can try the fixed-cost trips, such as going to an all inclusive resort or a cruise.

My life philosophy: 50 lessons from 50 years
Here's the best philosophies (in a nutshell):

Self-care comes first.
Life is like a lottery.
Always do your best.
Effort matters more than skill or talent.
Embrace the imperfections.
There's no single "right" way to achieve success.
Be present in the moment.
You_are the author of your own life.
Action cures fear.
You're more likely to regret the things you don't do than the things you do.
You can have anything you want - but you can't have everything you want.
It's always best to be proactive.
You are the boss of you.
Create your own certainty.
Choose happiness.
Time is more valuable than money.

Want to Boost Financial Fitness? Start With the Easy or Big Wins
Easy wins include changes that require very little effort. Big wins include slashing costs on housing, transportation, and food. Here's why it's best to focus on the easy and big wins:

You Get a Psychological Lift from the Get-Go:
Other shifts to improve your money situation take a lot more work and willpower.

You Lighten Your Cognitive Load:
If you make the effort in saving with either big or easy wins, or do something simple like automate your savings, you'll have less decision-making to do.

Pointers on Scoring Easy Wins:
Automation is your best friend.. Set this up on a money management app, or through your bank.

Tips on Making Big Wins:
Keep it fun. Look at the cons and pros.

Build Momentum
Netting wins early on will keep the momentum building. Results are what keep us going.

7 Ways To Save Money While Traveling Abroad

Set yourself a travel budget and DO NOT go over it.
Be flexible about a destination and plan a trip based on cheap airfare.
Forget hotels and find a trendy hostel for less than half the price.
Before arriving at your destination, look up prices and information about public transportation
If you're traveling for at least two weeks and don't want to worry about phone data costs, consider buying a SIM card.
Ask locals what their favorite cheap eats are and avoid tourist traps.
Before signing up for an expensive excursion or tour, check to see if it's doable on your own.

One suggestion that they didn't make: get BigPay as it will save you hundreds (if not thousands) when traveling.

Want To Have Your Money Accelerate Your Goals?

Grow Your Wealth

Your Career Is a Multimillion-Dollar Investment, So Manage It Wisely
Ways to help make the most of your career are:

Change Your Mindset: Think bigger. Then identify growth opportunities needed to reach that higher goal.
Maximize the Benefits of Everything You Do: Make sure to introduce yourself to everyone at a meeting . It also means collecting business cards.
Don't Pass Up Free Money: Be sure to enroll in an employer sponsored EPF plan.
Take Advantage of Tuition Reimbursement: Many companies offer tuition reimbursement program for further education.
Take Advantage of On the Job Training: Many employers offer on the job training related to specific tasks the organization deems important.
Networking : When you're searching for new career opportunities to boost your pay, it really is who you know.
Lean Out: Actively expand your professional network, or having what she calls an "open network".

Three Types of Income
This blog talks about the 3 different types of income that exists:

#1: Earned income

This is when you have a job and receive a paycheck.
You are exchanging time for money.

#2: Portfolio income

This is made through capital gains.
Example is they invest money in stocks they feel are undervalued now with the expectation that when the prices rises they can sell those same stocks for a capital gain.

#3: Passive income

Make money by acquiring assets.
An asset puts money in your pocket regardless of whether you work or not.

Keep More of What You Make:
When you invest in your financial education and start earning passive income, you'll not only know how to make money without a job but you'll pay less in taxes.

Pay Yourself First with The 3 Piggy Banks
Your New Household Rule:

For every dollar that came into our household, no matter where it came from, we would take 30% off the top.

Where Does That Money Go?

Savings Account (10%) - This is primarily for unforeseen emergencies
Investing Account (10%) - Allocated for a great investment opportunity.
Charity or Tithing Account (10%) - Share what you have and be of service to others.

The Power of Consistency:

Paying ourselves first meant that we were working toward achieving financial independence.
Be sure to set up clearly labeled savings accounts with your bank.
You can even set up automatic transfers on your bank.

FYI

You're awesome :)

Cool Opportunities

BigPay - The Best Travel Credit Card for Malaysians?
If you ever travel out of Malaysia and use your credit card, then this is BIG (pun intended). AirAsia has released BigPay, a prepaid mastercard that you can easily top up through the BigPay app and be able to use instantly.

But more importantly, BigPay charges you at the real exchange rate (which means they charge no fees). This is something you won't get if you were to go to your bank or some exchange counter.

In fact, I've already saved over RM 10,000 using this card (you can read about it in our BigPay Review)

Anyway, if you don't have one yet, you can sign up for free and get RM10 free when you use referral code B7D3YNZPGO.

A way for females to get free insurance
We were talking to our super humble financial advisor friend one day and she started talking about some insurance product for females that provides coverage for all these female related illnesses. But more importantly, the contract also states that all the premiums will be returned at the end of the contract.

Seriously something for all females to consider!

Building a financial roadmap
For those who are lost when it comes to tracking your net worth and using it as a way to create the ideal life, this is something you should check out.

We have worked with a financial advisor to lead you through building your own financial roadmap by yourself online.

And if you want them to do it for you (at a huge discount), you can make the request as well.

Check it out here!

Talking to an Independent Financial Adviser
A big issue when you work with someone who calls themself a financial advisor is you do not know if they really have your best interest at heart. That's one of the main reasons why I never work with any (the other one is that most of them get trained to say what the company wants and thus, do not know of all the other cool opportunities out there).

However, I've been talking to an independent financial adviser the last few months and I do believe that not only is she knowledgeable, but also super open to sharing her knowledge.

If you're interested in talking to her, join our facebook group and ask your questions. She will definitely find time to pop by and answer them.

Ready to get the highest quality information so that you can make the right choices? Check us out on moremoney.my