Money Magnet

A Recommended Dentist In Kuching

2011-12-14T13:11:00.000+08:00

Going to dentist is something I wish to avoid. I hate it but some how I still need them. In my whole life, I have been treated by 4 different dentist. The first 3 dentist didn't give me a good dentist visit experience.

Recently, due to some issue with my front teeth, I went to C K Goh Dental Surgery. And after a thorough examination on my teeth condition and some advice by Dr Goh, I decided for 2 dental crown for my front teeth. He explained the whole process and the cost price in details. The whole process took 5 visits which is about 2 months. For my first 3 visits, I was very tense as I dislike the 'going to dentist experience'. But for the last 2 visits, there were much better experience and seems like the fear of going to dentist is gone. Total amount I paid for my 2 crowns is RM1445, inclusive of root canal treatment for one of my teeth. The money and time spent is really worth it. I got my front teeth back. And most importantly, now I know I have a reliable, experienced and professional dentist. My fear of dentist is also gone.

For all my visits, I do not need to wait as Dr Goh had arranged appointment for each of my visits. The dental surgery assistant will call and remind me for the appointment as well. But, during my visits, I saw some have to wait for hours because most of Dr Goh appointment is full. So, those who walk-in, will have to give priority to those who already made appointment earlier. If you wish to visit C K Goh Dental Surgery, do call them first to arrange for an appointment.

11 Employment Benefits That Give You Extra Cash and Save You Money

2011-10-17T22:51:00.000+08:00

Being employed does not only meant you are getting income, but it gives your more cash and save you money too. Based on my experience and my readings, here are 11 employment benefits that can help you to either give you extra cash or save your money:

1) Employee Pension Fund (EFP) Contributions

Malaysian employer are required to contribute 12% of the monthly salary to each of their employees' EPF accounts. Employees are contributing 11% from their monthly salary. Some companies are kind enough to offer higher contribution for their employees. In long run, 12% of monthly salary can turn out to be quite a huge amount of money.

2) Social Security Organization (Socso) Coverage

Malaysian employer also required to contribute to Sosco for each of their employee. Socso operates as a social insurance scheme provided by the Malaysia government to provide aid in financial guarantees and protection to employees and their families in the event of accidents resulting in disablement, death, or affliction with occupational diseases. The contribution is accordance to the salary range of the employer. One thing for sure, Socso is reducing the employee's burden in term of accident, disablement and treating occupational diseases.

3) Medical Benefit

Most companies do provide medical benefits for their staff. The benefit can be either through staff monthly claim by submitting official medical receipt or through panel doctors appointed by the employers for their staff. Most of the time, the medical benefit also cover the medical expenses for spouse and children as well.

4) Dental and Optical Benefit

Dental and optical care can turn out to be quite expensive for an employee. When these are subsidized by company, employee can save hundreds in a year. Of course, there will be a certain limit of claim for each year. Some employer extend the dental and optical benefit to their employee's dependent.

5) Group Insurance Coverage

For those corporate giant where they have hundreds or thousands of employees, usually they provide group insurance coverage to their employees. Insurance coverage includes life insurance, personal accident and medical card. The most saving part would be medical card because medical care in private hospital can be very expensive. Most insurance coverage also cover for employee's spouse and children.

6) Health Screening Package

It is important for employees to have health screening package, especially for those after middle age. General health screening package could start from hundreds to thousands of ringgit. By providing subsidized health screening package, this will greatly reduce the financial burden of an employee. Usually employer will set a limit of health screening package for each of their employee.

7) Hire Purchase Benefit

Some large corporate especially financial institution usually offer lower hire purchase benefits for their employees, provided the hire purchase is from the employer itself. This could save quite a substantial amount of money. Win-win situation for both employer and employee.

8) Performance Bonus

Towards the end of a financial year, bonus is what most employee looking for. Bonus means additional cash. And some generous employers are giving away a few month bonuses.

9) Employee Share Option Scheme (ESOS)

Most public listed company offers ESOS to its employee. In a way, ESOS gives employees a feeling to own a portion of the company so that the employees will work harder. In return, when the share price increase, the employee can opt to exercise the ESOS and gain money from the transaction.

10) Long Service Awards

It is common to have Long Service Awards for employees who work 5 years, 10 years and for the next subsequent 5 years. Usually there will be cash incentive and special gift for Long Service Awards.

11) Maternity benefits

Some employers are kind enough to support parents with maternity benefit such as paying for labour charges. Other than that, some also give maternity gift for mother and new born gift for baby.

Other than the above mentioned employee benefits, I believe there are other benefits too. Do feel free to add in and share with me. For those who are enjoying the above benefits, they should feel thankful for it. For those who has not enjoying the benefits, can always suggest to your employer in your coming year end appraisal.

Is It The Time To Top-Up Your Investment?

2011-09-20T12:57:00.000+08:00

Based on my observation, recent unit trust price had dropped quite a lot. I am not sure what will happen in 1 week, 1 month or 6 months time. Maybe the price will drop further or maybe the price will pick up. No one knows.

Since I have some additional cash, so I took this opportunity to top-up some of my unit trust funds. But, I wont throw all my investment at one time. Some portion at a time. In case the price drop further, I still have extra cash for investment. In case the price pick up, I can save my extra cash for other purposes. And my top-ups are only for my long term investment fund.

What are the actions you've taken and what is your planning?

What To Do With Your Coins?

2011-08-25T16:37:00.000+08:00

Due to the recent news about The Third Series of Malaysian Coins, my parents handed a huge bag of coins to my brother, asking my brother to exchange with cash! Because they worried the existing coins might not be acceptable after the new third series Malaysian coins which will be available in circulation early next year. A huge bag of coins come out to be a few hundred ringgits!

Do you also have a lot of coins accumulated for years? Perhaps it's time to take them out and so something about it. Here are a few suggestions:

1) Bank-in the coins

I thought I can just walk in to the bank and exchange my coins with bank notes. But, it's not that easy. I need to have a saving account with the bank. I will need to leave the coins with the bank officer. They will calculate it when they are free and bank-in to my bank account. Some bank officer will call to inform the amount before bank-in, but some didn't. For my case, they took 3 working days before bank-in to my bank account. And the officer didn't call me. I am not so sure how much actually the coins as I didn't calculate it before handed over to the officer. Well, just have to trust them.

2) Exchange with business operator

They are quite a number of business operator who will need coins - supermarkets, grocery shops, school canteen operator... in short, any business who has a payment counter will need these coins. Just make sure you calculate the coins before send to them.

3) As a gift for your kids

I am sure your kids will be super happy if you top-up their piggy bank with your coins.

4) Bring them along when you do your shopping

You will make the life of the cashier easier if you give them coins every time you go shopping. I meant if your shopping is RM40.95, the cashier will be happy if you handed her RM50.95. This makes her job easier. Keep coins in a small purse so that you can practice more often.

Hmmm.. other that the above, any more suggestions? Feel free to add on...

Gold Prices Soar!

2011-08-09T22:16:00.000+08:00

A check on Public Bank Gold Investment Account price today shows the highest record (based on my observation since the past 3 years):

Local news and international news also reporting on record-high gold prices due to Standard & Poor's (S&P) downgrade on US credit ratings.

It is time to purchase more gold? I wish too. But the current price is too high. Or is it time to sell off for some extra cash? For me, not yet. How about you? Are you planning to exchange your gold for cash at this moment?

Malaysian IPTA/IPTS Student - 10 Ways To Earn Extra Money

2011-06-18T16:49:00.000+08:00

I believe most of us who had attended university life wish that we can have some extra money other than the money from our study loan or the 'Father & Mother loan'. Maybe some of them are lucky to have rich parents to support all their needs and even can give them unlimited credit cards to spend on. Most of us are not that lucky.

Here I suggested 10 ways to earn extra money for IPTA @ IPTS students in Malaysia:

1) Work part-time at fast food restaurant, convenient store, boutiques...

Many students are practicing this at the moment. Usually, they get paid based on hourly rate. Try to ask for a more flexible working hours so that you can replace those hours where you have classes.

2) Giving one-to-one tuition to primary or secondary students

Some parents are willing to spend on one-to-one tuition for their children. One-to-one tuition is more comprehensive. Student and tutor will also be able to concentrate better. Most importantly, the time is more flexible compare to huge tuition classes. Tuition rate are varies. It also depends on both party. If you are lucky and you help your student to get significant good result, you might receive higher pay and will be hunted by other parents.

3) Take part in university research program

In higher lever of learning, there will be a lot of research program going on. For research, normally they will need temporarily staff to help to complete the research program. Other than getting the pay, students will also learn new things which might be useful for their future.

4) Write article and sell it

If you have the writing skills, you can consider to sell your articles to local publisher or to the internet. If you have great interest in certain topics (for example beauty & grooming, relationship, teaching, gardening, cooking, current technology), someone out there might be willing to buy your article.

5) Get a job during semester break

My niece always practise this. She'll work full-time during her semester break at a local mall. I think she gained the trust from the employer. She told me she might do her industrial training at the local mall.

6) Selling your art skills

If you are a good artist, you can consider to sell your artworks. If you have talent in song writing, perhaps can write lyrics or music. If your song become a hit records, you will have a good return. Or, you can teach music classes (piano, guitar, violin).

7) Selling your photography skills

I know a student who work part-time to take wedding photo. For your information, the cost of a professional wedding photographer is quite expensive. And most importantly, sometimes the photographer has been booked months or years ahead before the wedding. If you know any of your friend or relatives are getting married, try to offer your photography skills. Of course, you have to ensure you have the photography skills to impressed. If you have not, but you're interested, you can consider working part-time at local bridal centre to acquire the related photography skills.

8) Internet Marketing & Blogging

From my reading, some students really make a lot of money from Internet Marketing and blogging. Some even become millionaire before they even graduated from university. I wish can write more but I myself still learning on Internet Marketing. If you have access to internet, you'll find tonnes and tonnes on making money from Internet Marketing.

9) Become part-time MC or DJ

If you have the right voice quality, quality and have got the interest, you can consider as parat-time MC or DJ.

10) Take part in Network Marketing Business

I know a friend who involved in direct selling product when I was at university. I think she earns quite a lot from selling the direct selling products. I can tell, she also have a busy schedule. The sister of my coursemate was an insurance agent while she still study in university. She really improved a lot after she joined the insurance agency. I believe she not only has the money now, but also a wide network connection.

My advice, there is no easy way to earn extra money (well, at least until now I have not found any easy way). One has to sacrifice her time and put a lot of effort to earn extra money. Just ensure that you are not doing anything illegal to get extra money. It's not that difficult to earn money from the illegal way, but the scary part is the after-effect. It's not worth it. And most importantly, do not neglect your study while you work part-time.

All the best!

How To Change Vehicle Ownership in Kuching, Sarawak

2011-06-16T22:11:00.000+08:00

I am so happy. After 7 years, I settled my car loan with CIMB bank :)

A few days before the due date of my car loan, I called the CIMB Auto Finance Centre in Kuching to enquire about the amount of my last settlement and to enquire about the change of ownership of my car. At the same time, I am also renewing my road tax and car insurance.

After I done my last settlement, renewed my road tax and car insurance, the officer told me to come back the next day to collect my green card and Settlement / Release Letter. So, the next day I went to collect my green card and Settlement / Release Letter. The bank officer reminded me to bring along my green card and Settlement / Release Letter and go to JPJ to change the ownership to my name. He said I can go any time but better not to delay for too long. As many people forgot to change the ownership and problem might arise if they want to sell their car.

So, after a few days, I went to JPJ. I brought along my green card and Settlement / Release Letter from CIMB Bank. JPJ in Kuching is located at 14th Mile, Kuching-Serian Road and the transfer of ownership is at JPJ Block B. Luckily hubby reminded me to go straight to Block B. Else, I might be wasting some time to ask around. The whole process, from waiting time to getting the chop from JPJ only took about 15 mins. Hubby said they just need to confirm from JPJ online system that the settlement is done, then they just put a chop 'DIBATALKAN' where previously was 'Hakmilik Dituntut oleh: Bumiputra Commerce Fin. Bhd...' The officer also sign and stamp her name and position, and with a date at the back of the green card. That's it. Done and the car is fully mine :)

By the way, there is no charges involved. It's FOC.

Additional note: If you are paying runner to do the change of ownership for you, you will be charged between RM8-RM10 as service fee.

Car Loan - Shorter or Longer Tenure/With Down Payment or Full Loan?

2011-05-28T17:24:00.000+08:00

The other day hubby and me were talking about car loan tenure - whether shorter tenure or longer tenure will be more beneficial. For a wage earner like me, I prefer to make larger down payment with shorter tenure. Which means that I will save a certain amount of money first before purchase a car and will try to settle the loan repayment within the shortest tenure possible. Of course, I must be comfortable with the monthly repayment. My main aim is to own the car as soon as possible and at the same time to reduce the loan interest. The shorter the loan tenure, the less interest I have to pay.

Hubby totally have a different point of view. He prefer to take full loan and to have the longest tenure available. His reasons as below:

1) The car value will depreciate. So, he said there's no point to rush to settle for something which the value will depreciate. The car is just another daily necessity, not an appreciating asset. So, he tries to minimize monthly repayment value by taking the longest tenure available. Longer tenure means smaller monthly repayment and small monthly repayment means he'll have additional cash for other matter (his business).

2) Full loan because he no need to fork out his money for down payment. He can use the money which supposed to be used as down payment as his business cash flow. This will increase his business profit (use money to make more money).

What is your view?

Top 3 Money Making Industry

2011-05-22T18:23:00.000+08:00

A friend shared with me that her boss told her 3 of the top money making industry as below (with some of mypersonal comment):

1) Oil & Gas Industry

It's true. There are only limited oil and gas reserved on this Earth. The lucky countries with those reserved oil and gas will take control of the price. Furthermore, with more people on the Earth with more cars and other type of vehicles, there will be an increase of oil and gas consumption. It is a need for one to commute from one place to another. Even the price increase, people still need it. There is no doubt, oil and gas is one of the most money making industries.

2) Tobacco Industry

It's true as well. Eventhough we no longer see amazing and expensive high quality tobacco or cigarette advertisement on the tv (was banned from Malaysia tv few years back), the tobacco company still see good sales volume. Even with the health warning printed on the cigarette boxes, the sales is still impressive. More, even the price has doubled or trippled from the past 10 years, we still see smokers buying their favourite brands. Another story which proved tobacco industry is one of the top money making industry is that a friend who works in an international tobacco firm received 6 months bonus!

3) Telecommunication Industry

Again, this is true. Because mobile telco are making money from the 'air'. Fixed line telco are having higher investment, but usually will get back their investment from the monthly rental fee which subscriber has to pay as long as they still need the service. In recent year, even a kindergarten kid is also holding a mobile phone. Imagine how many people on this Earth. Even if one person only spend RM1 on their mobile phone, the final figure would be really huge. How about the Internet technology? Most people, especially the younger generation would somehow need to connect to the Internet. Broadband market has been growing rapidly and this will continue.

Personally, I believe there are others high money making industry as well especially those illegal type of industry. But, that's out of my sharing here. Other legal high money making industry include investment and banking industry, health and pharmaceuticals industry, entertainment industry, and Internet marketing industry.

Do you have any comments? Any other industry which you think belong to the top money making industry?

Time for Gold and Silver...

2011-04-24T22:56:00.000+08:00

Last month, I bought a pair of gold earrings for my mum's birthday. The price was RM155 per gram. That's the highest price I had paid for gold! I won't be surprise if the price will reach RM200 per gram soon. When I asked the shop owner of the silver price, she said silver price has increased more than 50%. The same silver necklace which cost RM40 will cost about RM65 now!

Today's The Star Online did some sharing on gold investment. For those of you who have interest in gold investment, you might want to read it up. Few years back, I read from a financial planner that gold investment will not give high return, but from my own experience, it does give high return.

What's your view?

EPF@KWSP - EPF Declares 5.80 Percent Dividend Rate For 2010

2011-02-28T22:48:00.000+08:00

On last Sunday, 20th Feb 2011, EPF declared dividend rate of 5.80% for year ending 31 Dec 2010. The news also mentioned that EPF paid the highest dividend ever to its members.

It's not easy to gain access to EPF i-Akaun or EPF website on 21st Feb 2011. But, after a few attempts, I managed to log in. Happy to see the dividend has been credited :)

For this time, thumbs up for:

1) Higher dividend rate compared to 2009;

2) Early announcement of 2010 Dividend;

3) Prompt action to credit the dividend to its members' account on 21st Feb 2011

We hope for a better dividend for 2011 :)

I Want My 2010 Bonus!!!

2011-02-14T22:43:00.000+08:00

Time really flies... I would like to wish you:

1) Gong Xi Fa Chai & May You Have a Blessed and Prosperous Year of Rabbit

2) Happy Valentine's Day to You and Your Loved Ones

3) An Early Chap Goh Mei :)

Talking about bonus, I am still waiting for the news from top management. In Dec 2010, a friend shared that she received 2 months bonus for year ending 2009. She's from finance industry. She added that some of her colleagues from other high performing branches received 4 months bonus. That sound great!

In Jan 2011, callers to MY FM BreakfastShow shared their say about 2010 Bonus. I remember there're 2 callers said that they received 5 figures bonus! Some were getting 1 or 2 months bonus. A girl said she received a superbig RM10K bonus from her boss! Wow... Really envy them!

How about you?

Savings from My Ten Working Years

2011-01-06T15:47:00.000+08:00

By Dec 2010, I have been working for 10 years. I did some rough calculations. From the total income of the 10 working years, I have with me about 75% of the total income. I have spent away the other 25%. Throughout the 10 years, for the first 5 years, I didn’t manage to save much. Most of the 75% come from the last 5 year (2006-2010). I would say, I can do better if I know how to manage my finance well from my first pay cheque.

Ten years is not a short period of time, but it can pass very fast. Looking ahead, with God blessing, I still have about 20 more golden years to build my wealth. I wish to generate more for the next 5 years. I wish the return from my investment can cover the shortage in my first 5 working years.

How about you? Perhaps can do some simple calculations and share with me your result.

And I am wishing everyone a wonderful, prosperous and blessed new year ahead. Happy New Year 2011!

Job Cuts & Backup Plan

2010-12-19T09:36:00.000+08:00

Few months back, I heard that a huge organization is doing job cuts! Within a short period of time, most of the support staffs, especially those from branch offices were affected. They are either been offered with Mutual Separation Scheme (MSS) or been transfered to other departments or relocate to another different office which is at a different state. Either way, it is a scary experience and a very cruel moment to all employees. Even those employees who are not affected also having a hard time because job cuts meant that the workload is still the same, but the number of heads and hands doing the task is greatly reduced. It is a hard time for all employees because management still expecting things to run smooth with limited human resource.

So, if you are currently employed and everythings seems working fine, it is still better for you to get ready your backup plan. Because you'll never know what's next in the top management or share holder meeting. Employee wages hold the highest percentage in an organization cash flow. For cost cutting exercise, most organization would have to sacrifice some of their employees, especially support staff.

We have to plan and help ourselves! Have some backup plans now!

5 Reasons Why I Invested My EPF@KWSP savings in unit trust

2010-11-16T14:02:00.002+08:00

Most of us know that EPF@KWSP members are allowed to invest certain portion of their EPF@KWSP savings in selected unit trust funds. But, not many of us are taking the action to start investing in unit trust using their EPF@KWSP savings. For me, at first I was quite reluctant to invest my EPF@KWSP savings in unit trust. But, after some investigation and further considerations, I decided to invest partial of my EPF@KWSP savings in selected unit trust funds. I listed below, 5 reasons which I considered good enough to convince me to start investing my EPF@KWSP savings in selected EPF@KWSP approved unit trust funds:

1) Higher return of investment

This is the main reason why I invested my EPF@KWSP savings in unit trust. Based on the average performance of my existing unit trust funds, the return of investment is much higher compare to the 5.65% dividend rate given by EPF for year ending 2009.

2) Lower sales charge

For most unit trust investment, the common service charge range between 5% - 6%. But, for investment from EPF@KWSP savings, the maximum service charges is only 3%. For long term investment, the difference of 2%-3% can mean quite a lot of money.

3) Take control of my own EPF@KWSP savings

Perhaps I can't take control of all of my EFP@KWSP savings, but at least I have a control of small portion of it. Over the long run, I hope this small portion can grow into something significant.

4) It's not the money from my own pocket

Sometimes it is quite painful to transfer some of our hard earned money from our own pocket into unit trust investment. Because there are risks in unit trust investment. So, EPF savings is another alternative. After all, I can't withdraw my EPF@KSWP savings till I am 55 years old. So, why not take some risk with a small portion of my EPF savings?

5) Free Takaful Coverage

There are some EPF@KWSP approved funds come with Takaful coverage. This is something really worth it - investment come with insurance coverage. But, of course, there are terms and condition to enjoy this benefits.

The above 5 reasons are solid enough for me to start investing my EPF@KWSP savings in selected unit trust funds. Anymore reason which I missed out? Do feel free to share with me.

However, must always bear in mind, all investment come with risks. We always hope to get higher and better returns from our investment. But, must be aware that there are also some risks that the investment might not be able to give us the type of returns we wish for. Prepare ourselves with these possibilities. Make sure we can accept these possibilities.

All the best in your investment!

Note: If you wish to know how much you can withdraw from your EPF@KWSP savings to invest in unit trust, click here. If you wish to know the list of approved unit trust funds for EPF@KWSP members' investment scheme, click here. Do take note, the list of approved unit trust funds can change from time to time.

RoadMap To Financial Freedom - By Yap Ming Hui

2010-10-28T22:20:00.000+08:00

Earlier this week, I was reading an article @ Q&A session by Yap Ming Hui, a local Financial Coach and Advisor. So, would like to share the article with you all. It is very true when he said 'Most people spend 90% of the time making money and only 10% of time managing money, when it should be 50/50'. I think I am 80/20. I hope to be able to spend more time learning on how to manage my money.

You can access the article here.

Happy reading!

My Personal Experience As A Mystery Shopper

2010-10-20T22:24:00.000+08:00

Last year I registered myself in a local mystery shopping agency. Upon registration, I received quite a number of mystery shopping opportunities. But only in Aug 2010, I decided to to take up 3 mystery shopping assignments. Why, is because I only take up those assignments that's related to me.

The assignments are not tough but need to do some work and need to have a very details observation skills. Upon confirmation of the assignments, the agency assigned a specific date where I need to do my mystery shopping. My task include to visit a specific place and made a call to that same specific place and followed by answering a set of online questionnaires. Before proceed with the mystery visit, the agency provided me with a log-in details to their online assignment database where I can view all the details and task for each of my assignment. Upon log-in, I read through all the details (In fact, I read at least twice for each assignment :p) and printed out the questionnaires. The questionnaires are quite long, about 6 pages. But, not to worry as most of the answers are closed ended questions which means that you can select your answer from the options given. Only about 20% of the questionnaires need further elaborations and sometimes some descriptions. Upon completion of the mystery call and mystery visit and the questionnaires, I had to submit the questionnaires within 24 hours, together with proof of visits (a recording of conversation, name card of the person who attend to me at the specific place).

My first assignment was not so successful as I was inexperience and I feel like the place where I visit have a feeling that I am a mystery shopper which made me feel uncomfortable. My second and third assignment were quite OK and things run smooth. I also feel more confident.

My task did not finished at the point where I submitted the online questionnaires. The mystery shopping agency still contact me for some verifications of the questionnaires details. Some of the questionnaires are quite details, for example, whether the person who's attending to you is wearing spectacles or not, body size, age group and his/her race. I had quite a hard time to recall the particular for my first assignment.

The mystery shopping agency paid me the promised payment somewhere a month later. I would say, the pay is quite good, range between RM40-RM45 per assignment. Some extra cash, why not? Any of you with mystery shopping experience? Feel free to share your story :)

Money Fight in Family

2010-08-14T16:18:00.010+08:00

If you watch Hong Kong or Singapore or Malaysia Chinese drama, money fight is one of the main theme of the drama. In fact, money fight is one of the popular topics when I overheard some aunties' or uncles' conversation at hair saloon or kopitiam. Well, mostly are juicy gossips on others families' internal fighting over the parent's money and inheritance.

I have seen siblings hurt each other physically and emotionally over their parent's inheritance. They quarrel, curse and almost use the 'parang' to slash their brother. It's too sensitive and it's never a fair deal when come to wealth inheritance. In cases where the siblings bring their own lawyer, thing become worse. The fighting become longer, more expensive and more intense, leaving unhealed wound and causing families separated. Unfortunately, in most cases, no one wins. The lawyers are the ones who profit from the family fights.

It is sad to see wealth accumulated by hardworking parents ruins by their own children. Wealth which supposed to enhance their children life making them blind and fighting among themselves. Is it worth it? No! Not at all. Let us ponder on this and guide ourselves and our young generations to be wiser when handling inheritance. Let us teach them the value of family relationship which cannot be bought with any amount of wealth.

P/S: To the Chinese, I apologise for using us (the Chinese) as the example above. It's just that I feel family fighting over money is stronger in the Chinese family. But, I do believe it happened everywhere and to anyone...

LHDN@IRB - Overpaid Tax Refund

2010-07-10T17:20:00.004+08:00

I submitted my 2009 income tax in April 2010 through e-Filing. The process was very fast and convenient. For my 2009 tax return, I have an overpaid. My employer deduct the tax on monthly basis from my payroll. Well, not a big amount but it is my money and I want it to be returned to me.

I read from local news that LHDN@IRB will return the overpaid tax within a month from the date of submission especially for those who submitted through e-Filing. Towards June 2010, I have not received any news on my tax refund yet. So, I sent an email to LHDN@IRB to enquire on the status of my refund. Within 2 days, I received a reply mentioning that my tax refund request had been sent for processing at the local tax office, LHDN@IRB Kuching. Within 2 weeks from the date of my email, I received the cheque from LHDN@IRB.

Even though I didn't not received the refund within one month from my income tax submission but I am quite satisfied with their prompt reply on my request. Quite an impressive improvement. Hope that for 2010 tax return, tax payers will receive their tax refund within one month time, as mentioned by LHDN@IRB.

$Money$ - Is IT The Main Reason Why You Are Working?

2010-06-08T22:56:00.005+08:00

We all have a job. It can be an engineer, a doctor, a professor, an accountant, a housewife, a baby sitter or a full time blogger. What do we get from a job? Definitely the measureable part is we get some money for our work done. But, is money the main reason why you are working?

For me, yes, money is one of the many reasons why am I working. I am working so that I will get my paycheque at the end of the month. From my paycheque, there are a lot that I can do. I can support myself and my family in many ways. I can ensure all of our basic needs are met. I can also reward myself with a relaxing facial session or have a long holiday trip in Japan. And of course, I can invest part of it for my future and my retirement planning. Not forgetting, I save part of it for rainy days as well. As, at this moment, we hardly survive without money. Not until, the barter trade system is back…

But, other than for money, other reasons why I am working including for personal fulfillment. Which means that I work so that I can gain more knowledge and expand my social circle. Working also makes me feels like there is a value in me and it feels great when my contributions can help for the growth of the organization. It is also a great way for me to further understand myself and my surroundings.

How about you? Is money the main factor that keep you do what you are doing?

P/S: Now, I work for money. Soon, I hope money will work for me :)

NO Waiver for RM50 Credit Card Service Tax

2010-06-01T16:09:00.001+08:00

Yesterday I received my latest PB credit card statement. There was a charge of RM50 for credit card service tax. Thinking not so willing to pay for the RM50 service tax, I contacted the bank trying to request for waiver for my credit card service tax. Since I failed to contact them through their customer care line, I email to them instead. The reply was very prompt. Today, the customer service replied me to inform that there will be no waiver for the RM50 credit card service tax.

So, no choice. I still need to pay for the RM50 service tax. Luckily my Cash MegaBonus is enough to cover for the RM50. Thinking positively, this is a good starting effort to prevent us to carry too many credit cards. Imagine, if I have 5 cards, annually, I will need to set aside RM250 just for the credit card service tax.

I am wondering how about other banks. Do they charge you for the RM50 service tax or do they waive for you (when you request for waiver)?

Advantages and Disadvantages of Online Shopping

2010-05-08T16:48:00.005+08:00

With the current fast moving internet technology, many things had moved to online including online shopping. I believe most of us have shopped or purchased online, at least when you booked your Airasia Now Everyone Can Fly tickets. I myself had done some online shopping and I listed below the advantages and disadvatages of online shopping:

Advantages:
1) Save your time
If you are someone who spend most of your time in the office and only go out during lunch, you know how valueable is the 'outside time' for you. Or, if you are a busy mum, you will find it hard to go to the store with your kids around. For conventional shopping, you need to plan for your trip and most probably you will need to spend some time from the journey to the store. Through online shopping, you save your time by just a few clicks on your computer mouse. Within a few days, you will receive your items at your preferred location.

2) Convenient
This is much related to the first advantage above, save your time. It is also very convenient to shop online. For example, to purchase air ticket at the ticketing counter, you will need to drive to the location, park your car, get your queue number and wait for your number to be called. With online shopping, you will get your airline ticket done in just a few minutes at the comfort of your home.

3) 24x7 - anytime and anywhere
For conventional shopping centre, the business hour is limited, usually range from 8am to 10pm. But, for online shopping, most of the online store is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. You can shop and order anytime of the day and from anywhere, as long as your are connected to the internet.

4) Cheaper price
Due to lower maintenance cost in term of workers and business premise, online stores able to sell with cheaper price compare to those item in the conventional stores or supermarket. If you purchase in bulks, you can get more discount as well.

5) More choices
In some locations, their desired products might not be available at their local store. So, online store can solve this issue. Online store also provide more choices for its shopper. It is much easier to browse the available item from a web browser rather than walking in the store. And it is easier to go to another online store compare to go to another ifferent conventional store. Which again, help you to save your shopping time.

6) Readily available information
Usually for online store, the product informations are readily available on the site. Buyers are free to access to the informations and some even provide instant reply for questions related to their products. Some buyers (like me) prefer to read the available informations on the products rather than having a sales assistant bugging me or following me around.

7) Products review
Most of the online shops also come with product reviews. This is especially helpful in providing more information for the potential buyers. Positive products review will definitely help the potential buyers.

Disadvantages:

1) What you see online is not what you get
For online shopping, there is no testing before purchase the products. The picture of the product might look great on the website but when you received it, it looks different. For example, a dress which look very nice on the online model might not look nice on you. So, for purchase which you need to try, to test and feel it, online shopping is not a good idea.

2) Chances of fraud seller
For experienced online shoppers, this might not be a problem but for novice shoppers, they might be cheated by fraud sellers. Upon receiving the payment, they might not received the promised products. It is best to check the rating of the seller before do any online puchasing. Be sure only to purchase from good rating sellers.

3) Misleading information
To impress their potential buyers, some online shop owner might provide misleading information about their products. It is adviseable to read more especially user review before purchase the product online.

4) Online payment security issue
For online purchase, most payment mode are through online as well. Because of this, there is a higher chance of payment security issue. Be sure to shop on secure store. At least, the possibility of credit card fraud or orther online payment method fraud is minimized.

6) Disclosure of personal information
Before any online purchase, buyer will need to disclose their personal information. This is for payment and shipping purposes. You never know who's at the other side viewing your personal information.

7) Computer and internet service requirement
To be able to shop online, you must have a computer with internet connection. And some basic internet knowledge as well. That is why most of the online shoppers are younger generations. Not many grandma and grand dad shop online.

8) System down
When the system (either yours of theirs) is down, online shopping is not possible to be done. But, usually, the system won't take so long to be back operating as usual.

9) Expensive shipping fee
For some products, the shipping fee might be more expensive that the price of the purchased product. For example, to purchase a set of skin care from US, the cost of the shipping from US to Malaysia is much more expensive than the skin care itself.

10) No human touch
For conventional shopping, there is always sales asssistants whom we can ask for advice or for help. But, for online store, you will have to help yourself. For purchase which you need some human touch, it is better to get it from the conventional stores. Only after you are confident which product you wish to buy, then should go for online shopping.

11) Long wait for delivery & lost items
Depending on your location and the type of the delivery service you are paying, the waiting time can be quite frustating. Some items can be lost as well.

Based on the above information, it seems like the disadvantage is more than the advantages. Nevertheless, I still believe online shopping has a promising future. Or, is there any points which I had missed out? Feel free to share your view.

Managing Corporate Finance

2010-05-05T22:44:00.003+08:00

I am very surprised with the Account @ Finance Department for some of the corporate organization in Malaysia. Why I said so is because they did not check the invoice properly before issuing the payment. Even the payment voucher has 3 different signatures (meant at least 2 person had verified the payment), still the account is not correct. Most of the time, they payment made late. Thus, there are balance brought forward to the next invoice. Without checking the status of the previous payment, they issue another new cheque including the previous payment which they had made earlier, resulting in overpayment.

I am wondering how come such a well known corporation has such a poor monitoring or checking system. And not only one or two huge corporation but quite a number of them. Is it because they money is not theirs, so they take little effort to ensure the accuracy?

If you are planning to have your own business, make sure you monitor the finances well, especially account payable. Ensure you hire a careful personnel to manage your finances. And you yourself must check the cheque properly before signing on it.

If you are a personnel working in Account or Finance Department, make sure you keep proper records and double check the payment details before issue the cheque. Your boss will appreciate your effort.

No Bonus, No Increment & No Promotion

2010-04-13T22:10:00.001+08:00

Recently, our management team (HQ) announced that there will be NO bonus, increment or promotions for financial year ending 2009, until further notice. The main reason is our company's direction for this financial year is profit making. The other meaning is company currently don't have enough money for bonus, increment and promotions. From the way the company spent money for the past 2 years, no wonder there is not enough money for bonus, increment and promotions.

I am disappointed. I am not happy with the way they spent the money for the past 2 years. Maybe because the previous company that I work with is very concern on cost savings and very cautious on spending the money. But, when come to bonus, increment and promotions, my previous company is quite generous (even though I hope they can be more generous).

I can see other colleagues also demotivated to work. Last year was a year where me and other colleagues at our branch working really hard to hit the given target. At the end of last year, we managed to hit the target which we thought was impossible to hit. That's why we all are very disappointed and demotivated when we knew that there will be no bonus, increment and promotions for 2009.

It's not fair. At our branch level, we practised cost savings and try our very best to control the expenses. Furthermore, we hit the impossible target. But, there's no bonus, increment or promotions for us.

I am wondering how about the rest of organizations in Malaysia. Do you receive any bonus, increment or promotions? Mind to share with me?

EPF Rules - A MUST Read

2010-03-23T13:42:00.004+08:00

Yesterday, I received an email from a friend on EPF Rules. I am not sure the source of this information but worth reading. Because there are circumstances which never crossed our mind....

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Subject: EPF Rules- A MUST READ

If ONE (1) of your Nominees in the EPF Nominees list dies, automatically the whole arrangement (EPF Nominees list) is VOID .. Meaning if, you only put in One (1) name & unfortunately he/she dies before you - automatically EPF will channel your EPF money to trustee of AMANAH RAYA upon your death.

Even though if you have few names in the EPF Nominees list, - the whole arrangement is VOID & none of the individual names left in the EPF Nominees list will get their portion & automatically EPF will channel your EPF money to trustee of AMANAH RAYA upon your death.

Piece of advice - if any of the your Nominees in the EPF Nominees list dies, please do immediately approach the nearest EPF counter & present the Death Certificate of the individual & register your NEW / LATEST Nominee in the EPF Nominees list + NEW / LATEST percentage .

If, you & the other party (maybe spouse) involved in the same misfortune (accident / illness) that caused death to both yourself / spouse please, please, please alert your siblings / relatives / parents to immediately approach the nearest EPF counter & share the information within 3 days to AVOID all EPF money to be surrendered to trustee of AMANAH RAYA .

Upon surrender to trustee of AMANAH RAYA, your children will have to battle the money thru 3 channels;

Majlis Agama

Pejabat Tanah

Mahkamah

The normal period via above 3 channels usually takes 2-3 years (except if you have inside/tip top connection) at Amanah Raya.

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Anyone with any experience with the above, feel free to share with me.