Malaysia Money Matters

If you are cash rich, then your interest income from fixed deposits will go up. If you are paying off loans, actually you won't feel much because your repayment amount stays the same but the interest portion is now slightly higher. So what you should do, if you have some money in your EPF account 2, is to use that to pay down some of the principle of the loan to ensure your tenure is not extended unduly long. From the human psychology perspective, the rate hike will make house buyers nervous for a while so sales will go down a bit. Eventually though, they will get over it. This means that property prices will stabilise for a while then begin to pick up again because there will be housing pressure from a growing adult population. I believe now is a good time to look for distressed sellers and pick up a good bargain. Some people were very aggressive in buying properties during the boom, with "no money down" using inflated sales agreements - well, think that is goi...

Admittedly, I love the place. I know it's not perfect but once I step foot in Thailand, I always feel so free and happy. The people are nice, even though you don't understand what they say but it sounds so nice! LOL and the food, the shopping and everything! I find the current situation there quite sad - as a neighbour, one hopes that they will resolve it ... so that I can go visit again soon! Although, it is still quite safe for tourist even now in Bangkok.. maybe not the southern provinces with the latest bomb blast. Sigh... A few years ago, my sympathies were more towards the Yellow Shirts - in fact some of my Thai friends are Yellow shirt supporters. But reading more into the situation, I am not supporting them now - they are agitating for a regressive form of government! A council, indeed?! Chosen by whom? It is almost like the ancient Roman system of choosing senators from the bonii (good men) who had to be rich enough not to require a salary from the state - hence...

This is more like a "note to self" kind of posting.. it's from something someone said on Oprah, can't remember who (he did seem a bit supercilious) but what I remember was that he said in order to be considered truly 'wealthy' and thus happy in one's life - one should have a BALANCE of these 5 kinds of 'wealth': Material Intellectual Physical Emotional Spiritual So lets break it down: Material wealth - the most obvious one, of course, money & possessions etc. I would include a steady or assured income because there's nothing more stressful (to me) about not knowing whether you're going to get any income. Of course, some entrepreneurs may thrive on such an adrenaline rush, but not me, thank you. Intellectual wealth - I believe it means more than just education or qualifications. It should also include the thirst for knowledge and having the ACCESS to knowledge that makes one truly wealthy. Not surprising that even in...

It's already mid-October. A lot of predictions have been made that once summer is over, there is going to be an economic collapse. A lot of signs seem to be pointing towards it, to wit:  - countries unable to service their sovereign debt, coming close to running out of money  - cost of borrowing increasing, e.g. Spain's rating dropping to BBB+  - the people in countries like Greece protesting against the austerity measures (which is not effective to my mind, the austerities that is, not the protesting) Lets look at it in simple terms: I believe this crisis is brought about by human failings, not because of fancy economic terms. Firstly - lack of integrity :  - Did Greece fudge their numbers to get into the Eurozone? They did, didn't they? So from the get-go, they got in based on lying. So there is no basis for them to be in there.  - Going way back, reneging on the gold standard is what goes us all here in the first place. Secondly - intellectual l...

Just realised that I didn't write anything for the whole of 2011! It was an eventful year actually. Got promoted early in the year :) Not to sound ungrateful but it was kind of expected because in terms of meeting the set goals, KPIs etc which was done - so it came in as promised. Only thing was a bit delayed because it was supposed to have been in Sept 2010 but it came in March 2011. Ah well, better late than never. So with that, the pay jump was about.. almost 40% which was kewlness. Then the big surprise was in Sept 2011 after coming back from the Korea trip, that I got a pay increase! That really came out of the blue, was probably too busy working and stuff - just doin' and doin' and doin' and the reward just came! Oiyooo... this time, was about a 20% but seriously, this actually made my pay rise by almost 100% within a year. Yes, in just one year. Like. Oh. My. Goddess. I'm not saying this to boast, I'm still pinching myself to see if this is...