Malaysia Money Matters

Am thinking of offering pro-bono financial advisory services to certain vulnerable segments of society here in Malaysia. Something along the lines of say, young LGBT Malaysians - especially the transgender community. I have a few transgender friends and a couple of them are doing well financially but the rest seem to struggle somewhat. Perhaps I can help but it's a sensitive subject to broach. Anyway, if any of you youngsters out there need someone to give some advice on how to get ahead financially - maybe Uncle here can help you or at least listen to you. Just drop a comment below and we'll take it from there. :)

A commenter asked me about it some time ago and I said I didn't check it out ... and wasn't particularly planning to either because I thought it was already launched and sold out etc. ANYWAY, coincidentally a relative wanted to go see the showroom so I tagged along - seems to be a theme going on of me tagging along! and so I DID actually check out it. So here's the deal: This is the last parcel of land by the same developer of Villa Wangsamas and it is the plot closest to the Sri Rampai LRT station (surprised? Of course not, save the best of last, isn't it?). 3 towers of about 30+ floors if memory serves me correctly Leasehold Big-ish layouts, starts from 1.1k sf, 1.3k and I think the biggest is close to 2k sf thereabouts Price is about RM800 per square foot About 8 units per floor, each unit is like a "corner" because they are arranged in a circle around the lift column - so 4 pairs each, then each unit can have corner windows. What do I think...

A summary post of my thoughts and learnings from buying property and renovating - while there are tons of discussion forums, you'd have to trawl through a whole lot of (rather badly written) comments and sift through the rantings, boastings and fluff to even get a glimmer of useful information. So here goes and hope it helps: The majority of Malaysians prefer to buy brand new properties from developers. There are definitely advantages in terms of lower pricing and the satisfaction of owning something first hand. However, there are hidden costs to it too - primarily the risk of uncertainty that touches many aspects of a new development that includes: Risk of non-completion - this is the worst one, you're stuck with a loan or if you paid cash, you can't liquidate. Risk of non-compliance - I have viewed a 2nd hand property before where the owners have been cheated by their developer: the S&P states that the house dimensions were 22x60 but they only built it to 2...

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...