Malaysia Money Matters

The show has been on for a few weeks now - actually I've missed a couple of episodes but I did make the effort to see the debut. Boy o boy, it was a bit cringe-worthy, I can tell ya! But the production was slick and pleasing to the eye. I've met Chan Boon Yong before, during one of those Carat Club event thingies - he's v. nice. As for the contestants, the only 2 who stood out (positively) are Joel and Carmen. Eddie is too full on, I wouldn't hire him 'cos he is a loose cannon. Dr Azhar, sorry dude, you are useless in a corporate environment- all theory and no action (and a face for radio). Sigh, hopefully there will be a second season with cuter contestants! LOL

Sigh, after months of going around in circles trying to figure out how to get more money and reading all sort of get-rich schemes, what happens? I go and get myself a higher paying job, that's what... ah well, the scope is very interesting and I'm looking forward to it!:) In the meantime, my colleague also tendered her resignation to become a unit trust agent. So I bought some funds through her and in only a month or so, the appreciation - I did make a grand amount of RM66! Which is nothing to sneeze at considering the pitiful amount I bought! hehehe (It was a high risk fund. Buyer beware, ok?) Hmm.. now that that I gots me a higher pay, should I get a new car?? Noooooo!! The temptation of it all... uuaargh!

I caught the debut episode of "Seeds" yesterday - niiicceee... I know, I know, it's a local production of agri-business (how exciting, huh?).. But seriously, folks, I think it is a good step in the right direction. Having Naz as the host is not a bad idea either - ok, I'm biased, he's my junior from high school and he's a nice kid, ya know? (yeah, nice kid who prolly makes more money than me! LOL) Anyway, yesterday's episode was on spice manufacturing (how "Dune"!) and mushroom cultivation with chips thrown in. Kewl... oh yeah, and an interview with the PM Pak Lah. The only grouse I had was that it's a little simplistic compared to, say, Landline but I'm thinkin' baby steps, baby steps.. oh, and the blatant CIMB mention but hey, they *did* sponsor the thing :p Anyway, I'm always keen on seeing stuff like this (agribiz-nerd that I am) because we (as in M'sia) seem to look down on agriculture like it is not 'glamour' eno

My uncle is a very successful man. He retired as a CEO and is now sitting on the board of directors of a few companies due to his expertise. So when I told him I was looking for a place to buy, he gave me some advice and to be sure, I listened! He said that first, you have to work out what you can afford. Sounds simple and basic common sense, right? But don't be surprised that a lot of people never do that, then get themselves in Heap Big Trouble, Kimosabe when the bills start adding up. THEN, he said, after you've figured out what is affordable, you should stretch yourself (!) and try to buy something a little bit beyond your capability. Now that is counter-intuitive to what he just said earlier, right? So I was like, duh? And he was like, there are 2 reasons: Firstly - you are very unlikely to be 'in love' with a property that is 'affordable' (mind you, this only applies to the purchase of your home, not investment property), so why make yourself feel like yo

A lot of people complain about the bad service they get from their banks. I've always wondered about that because I've always gotten pretty decent service and at times, very good service too! And this is not at the bank where I work but at other places. After having a bit of think about it - I believe it really boils down to the customers themselves. Looking back at the type of customers who complain a lot - I'm sorry to say that most of them are really a clueless lot. The unfortunate thing is these are the type of people who THINK they know everything but in reality, ahem..., don't know very much. So they ASSUME that things should be done this way and they ASSUME that the poor customer service officer can read their minds. They ASSUME that they are right and everyone else (especially the bank that is 'out to cheat their money') is wrong. See the pattern? Really, a bank is just a business. The people who work there are just salaried employees. Policy and procedu

Ok, I don't profess to be a mega property investor (yet) but I do like shopping around either through iProperty , the newspaper or at launches and roadshows... and gawd, the amount of marketing crap out there can be mind numbing at times. (just a short rant now) WTF does e-home mean? An electronic home? A virtual home? Come on lah, just because there is email, e-commerce, e-banking and e-going-to-toilet, must have e-home also la? I wonder who were the suckers who bought into this nonsense. (ok, rant over) Coming back to the topic: I want to say something about this 'cos of the 'headless chicken'-like behaviour of a close friend of mind who couldn't make a rational decision on a property purchase to save his life. Why? 'Cos he gets so easily taken in with: 1. The snazzy, lovely and rather impractical interior design of the show unit. It's a Show Unit! That's why it's nice! Dumbass. 2. No legal costs. Oh yeah, right. Work it out - the legal cost has be

I have a friend. Let's call him Kyle. He is obsessed with money. I mean really. Anyway, while talking to him the other day, the topic turned to net worth. So for a laugh, I told him that he's probably a millionaire already; he just didn't know it! Boy, you should have seen him, I swear his ears almost waggled as his (already bulgy) eyes bulged out of their sockets! So I says, look - you've got 3 properties right? And he says, yeah but I still owe the banks for the mortgage. Well, says I, what about your MRTA? Ha! He gets it. Despite his many shortcomings, one thing I do like about him is that he gets things very quickly. There's a lot to be said about that. So so so, if added all together, they come up to about half million already at market value, he stuttered. Uh huh. And now, how about your EPF? There's about 150K in there or so. Oooo... now I'm up to 650K. Still nowhere near a million, what?! Insurance leh? I ask. Not a lot lah, he says. No, what about y