W a r i s a n

Inspirational

2010-02-27T12:55:00.001+08:00

by Jim Rohn & U2

6 steps on how to invest in properties & real estates

2009-08-06T21:41:00.008+08:00

Kiyosaki & Dolf De Roos revealed the 6-Steps how to invest in Properties and Real Estates

Decide To Be Investor
Find An Area
Identify Properties
Analyze, Offer and Negotiate
Put together the deal
Property Management

Quote

2009-08-06T20:25:00.001+08:00

“You can be young without money but you can't be old without it” - Tennessee Williams

Property Investment 101 – Start with a Vision and Objectives

2009-08-06T20:20:00.000+08:00

So now you’ve decided to become a property investor. Investing in properties is just like running a business regardless whether you are in it for the capital gain or cashflow. Selling real estates is just like selling other products i.e. whether your strategy is low cost or differentiation or niche (read more about Michael Porter’s Generic Strategies), it involves you to sell your products (house, shop, office, factory, etc) or services (renting it out, managing the properties, etc).

Before embarking into any business, you should be clear of your Vision so that you can move towards achieving it. You should also lay down your investment objectives so that you stay on course and does not venture into areas that does not in line with your Vision, principle, ethics and risk appetite.

Vision could be something like...

“To invest in BLUE CHIP properties in choice locations so that I can have enough money for my retirement and child education”.

The following should be clear when drafting an investment objectives:

Minimum and maximum size of portfolio
Investment strategy i.e. buy keep buy keep, buy sell buy keep or buy sell buy sell
Choice locations
Negative locations
Minimum stream of income for each property invested
Minimum discount from market value
Type of properties invested
Standard responsibilities of Landlord and Tenants for all your rented properties
Source of financing, negative Bankers, etc.
Continuous learning in property investment
Etc

When you come across to a property that is not within your investment objectives, no matter how tempting it is, move on and don’t look back. Most of the time it would save you a lot of money, effort and keep you away from stress.

Property Investment 101 – Category of properties (By Utilisation)

2009-07-19T22:27:00.002+08:00

Utilisations of properties are predetermined as per their respective titles. In Malaysia, utilisation are normally categorised into the following:

1. Residential
Property for people to live in i.e. house. Residential properties can sit on the land (Landed) or sits on other people’s property (Non-landed)

a. Landed

Terrace/link house - single, one and a half, double, two and a half, three stories, etc. Both left and right walls are shared with neighbours (except for end or corner lot units).
Semi-detached house (Semi-D) - single, one and a half, double, two and a half, three stories, etc. Only one of the walls is shared with neighbour.
Semi-D (Cluster) - single, one and a half, double, two and a half, three stories, etc. One of the walls is shared with a neighbour and the back wall is shared with another neighbour.
Bungalow - single, one and a half, double, two and a half, three stories, etc.
Bungalow Lot - empty land for building house varies in sizes.

b. Non-Landed (strata)

Apartment/Flat – limited facilities or no facilities, walk up or with lifts, low cost or medium low or medium cost, dedicated parking or free parking, etc. Shared left and right walls (sometimes back wall), ceiling and floors (except for end units, top floor units or ground level units).
Condominium – with facilities like security guards, clubhouse, swimming pool, sauna, gymnasium, convenient store, laundry, nursery, surau, tennis court, community hall, dedicated parking, cctv, smarthome system, etc.
Townhouse – with or without facilities and some are even within a gated community.

2. Commercial
Property that can be used for business purpose i.e. shop, office, hotel, etc.

a. Shop

Retail outlets at shopping centre
Landed shoplots

b. Office

c. Combination

Service apartments
Shop office, shop house, etc
Commercial land

d. Hotel/resort units

timeshare based, leaseback, etc.

e. Car Park

f. Warehouse

g. Air space

3. Industrial
Properties that normally located within industrial zone and used for manufacturing purpose

Terrace factory
Semi-D factory
Detached factory

4. Agriculture
Land for agriculture and maximum of 1 house can be built on a piece of agriculture land.

Some of the Kampong land are still agriculture land.
Plantation
Farm
Ranch
Orchard – fruit trees, some even come with matured trees, maintenance, water supply, electricity, etc.

5. Raw Land
Land yet to be converted to any of the above.

Property Investment 101 – Category of properties (Types of titles)

2009-07-19T11:38:00.003+08:00

The type of titles that normally up for sale in Malaysia are as the following:

1. Freehold

Ownership in perpetuity (unless the Government wanted to acquires it for development purposes).
This is the most preferred type of property as it can be passed down to generations.
As there is a high demand for it, it is the most expensive among the 3 and potentially has a better and more stable capital appreciation.
Ownership ceased when it was sold to a third party or acquired by the Government (at market value).

2. Leasehold

Ownership for a limited number of years i.e. up to 99 years, 60 years, etc.
Lease term can be extended upon approval by the State Authority, which comes with a fee (normally calculated at market value).
Can be converted to a freehold (a bit complicated for strata units like condo, apartment, flat, etc) and yes it comes with a fee and upon approval by the Authority.
Transfer of title needs approval from the State Authority and the Developer. This process can sometimes takes a considerable amount of time.
Usually it is challenging to get Bank financing for property with leasing term less than 60 years.

3. Malay Reserve/Bumiputera Units

Limited to Bumiputera.
Bumiputera units are normally sold at a discount (5% or more).
Market value are usually well below than “Grade A” units (open for all). Although the purchase price is 5% cheaper, the resale value can be more than 10 – 20% below market value due to limited market.
Bumiputera units can be sold to a non-Bumi with the consent of the State Authority.
Some Developers may already pre-determined the location of the units.
Units that are earmarked as Bumiputera units can sometimes be located at unattractive locations i.e. facing a T-junction, next to TNB station, next to the reservoir, unit number 4, odd units (normally a link house), etc that would reduce the property value further.
Some Developers even sold units that are not earmarked as Bumiputera units at market price although it was bought by a Bumiputera.

Cartoon

2009-06-28T13:37:00.003+08:00

Location, Location, Location...

Source: www.theatlantic.com

Property Investment 101 – Why people invest in property?

2009-06-28T13:09:00.002+08:00

1. Land is scarce
“Buy land. They are not making it anymore” – Mark Twain
Land is scarce. For instance, when people sought for residential along East Coast of Penang Island, property developers either reclaim the sea or convert traditional Kampong into high rise residential. The same happens everywhere when there is not enough land for development but the demand consistently exists.

2. Property fulfils one of the basic needs
Besides food and clothing, everyone needs a shelter. A roof over your head is to protect from rain and shine, and home is where the heart is. By buying property, not only you provide basic needs for your family, but also help others to satisfy their basic needs buy providing your property for rental. Demand for a house will always be there as long as it is one of human’s basic needs.

3. Property is in an inefficient market
Stock prices are quoted. Nobody’s buying stock at other than the quoted price (unless they have a lot of money to tender a block of shares). Unlike stock, property price is not fixed. Even a similar house next to one another can be transacted at different prices. As such, you can take advantage of inefficient market to get a good deal of good properties.

4. Best hedge against inflation
Market value of property always move in tandem with inflation. Whenever the price of consumer goods increses, the property price increased, at a higher rate. As such, you can expect that each RM1 deposited in a fixed deposit account today may not worth the same in 5 years down the road but each RM1 invested in good property today may worth much more than that.

5. Fantastic leverage
With a 10% downpayment, you can own 100% of the property and enjoy the full benefit of the ownership i.e. rental income.

6. Easy to add value at minimal cost
The value of a property can easily be increased with a little effort and minimal cost i.e. new coat of paint, upgrade flooring, change of old doors, windows & locks, adding kitchen cabinet, cornice ceiling, etc.

7. Money making machine
Property can generate money, just like business. Better, it is like a double edge sword where you can collect rental and enjoy capital gain. Good strategy and professionally managed properties will entitled you automatic stream of income.

Quote

2009-06-22T21:13:00.001+08:00

“The rich either made their wealth, or kept their wealth, in real estate” – Dolf de Roos

Money Saving Tip #11

2009-06-14T13:05:00.003+08:00

When the time is right...

Did you ever went to Pasar Malam at 10.45pm or just before the hawkers packed up? Did you ever go to the Pasar Ramadhan few minutes before break fast or after break fast? What did you noticed?

During those times, most of the items especially food are marked down and sometimes they came with free food or extra content. Instead of buying 5 nasi lemak, you may end up buying just 3. Some supermarkets do marked down their sushi after 6pm. Some cafes marked down their pastries after 6pm.

Knowing their pricing strategy can save you a lot of money. Nevertheless, be aware of the food quality, and make sure you consume them as soon as possible, as some of these products may not be able to last long.

Buying food with empty stomach or when you are feeling down is not a good idea. You would most probably want to buy everything but can only consume some. The rest go to waste. Learn from your Pasar Ramadhan experience.

Bringing kids for shopping is also not a good idea. They will be tempted to a lot of things from chocolate to toys. As such, try to keep them at home or distract them from toys, chocolates, junk foods, etc. You can also teach them how to shop the smart way i.e. how to know whether the fish is fresh, whether buying 2 packs of 1kg of Milo is better than buying 1 packet of 2kg of Milo, etc. By doing this, you can also increase their general knowledge and improve their maths skill.

Property Investment 101 - Introduction

2009-06-14T12:06:00.004+08:00

For the benefit of the Blog loyal visitors, I am starting a new thread on property investment alongside my money saving tips and other investment related tips and articles.

Property investment is where my passion is. I had invested in a number of properties and currently, bulk of my investments are in properties. Articles that I am going to share are mostly based on my personal experience. Some of the points were also came from my readings and seminars that I had attended. So you can expect very valuable information posted via this thread and saved thousand of Ringgits attending those seminars, or worst, losing thousands of Ringgits doing bad property investment.

I had been investing in properties since my early working days. At that time I had neither experience nor knowledge in investing in property. I relied very much on the information provided by the sales agent of the property developer. When relying on sales agent (salesman, sales representative, marketing manager or whatever you called them), you must keep these important things in mind; they are there to sell at any cost as their performance is related on how much sales that they can make and they are not the expert in the field.

Relying on the property sales agent had taught me a very painful and costly lessons that I have to face until today. The property (my first property) that I bought were left abandon at 75% of the construction. Just imagine you have to serve your loan interest after it had been 75% disbursed without knowing when the property is going to be completed. Really painful isn’t it?

Nevertheless, I learnt my lesson. A very painful one indeed. Therefore, I started to read more about property investment and attended property investment seminars. Thousands of Ringgits that had been invested in knowledge paid off when I managed to invest in more properties according to my investment strategy. Alhamdulillah, those properties are now self-financing themselves and provide me with steady passive income.

I am only going to share tips and strategies that I had been personally experienced, regardless whether they were my first hand experience or strategies that I implemented based on my readings or trainings. Those theories that I never tried, or not suitable for me, or not suitable for Malaysian will not be listed here. As such, knowledge shared is proven and very practical. It is very much about residential property investment (as I have no experience in investing in agricultural, commercial and industrial properties) and strategies to invest in properties with little or no money down. Strategies shared are very relevant to young investors and people starting to venture into property investment. From time to time, I will also post tips which can also benefit seasoned investors.

I wish you luck, and happy investing.

Cheers!

Ten Secrets to Success

2009-06-10T22:15:00.003+08:00

Most successful people have ten traits that, when combined, can turn dreams into reality.

How you think is everything - Always be positive. Think success, not failure. Beware of a negative environment.
Decide upon your true dreams and goals - Write down your specific goals and develop a plan to reach them.
Take action - Goals are nothing without action. Don’t be afraid to get started. Just do it.
Never stop learning - Go back to school or read books. Get training and acquire skills.
Be persistent and work hard - Success is a marathon, not a sprint. Never give up.
Learn to analyze details - Get all the facts, all the input. Learn from your mistakes.
Focus your time and money - Don't let other people or things distract you.
Don’t be afraid to innovate; be different - Following the herd is a sure way to mediocrity.
Deal and communicate with people effectively - No person is an island. Learn to understand and motivate others.
Be honest and dependable; take responsibility - Otherwise, numbers 1-9 won’t matter.

Source: Investors Business Daily

Quote

2009-06-10T22:10:00.002+08:00

"The first rule of becoming wealthy is not to lose money. The second rule is not to forget the first rule" - Warren Buffet

Money Saving Tip #10

2009-06-07T02:50:00.002+08:00

Credit card?

For those who cannot discipline themselves, the general advice is not to have a credit card.

Do not apply for a credit card, no matter how charming or how pity you are to the lenghchai that is trying to sign you up for the credit card.
If you accidentally fall for his trap or fall in love with the free gift offered and eventually signed up, set in your mind that you do not need the credit card. Normally banks will have their officers calling up the applicants for verification. Tell off the officer that you had changed your mind and wanted to withdraw the application.
If the card had been mailed to you, immediately cancel it off. Make sure that the Bank replied to you that they had canceled your card.
If you had accumulated debts with your credit card, pay them off immediately, cut the card and submit a cancellation to the Bank.
If you had accumulated a large sum of debt and cannot pay it off in one shot, cut the card and call the Bank. Try to work out a settlement plan with the Bank officer. It is best if the Bank allows you to terminate the card and service the debt separately to prevent you from getting back into your old habits i.e. spending like nobody’s business.
It is even better is you can take the cheapest personal loan with the same Bank or elsewhere (friends, relative, parents, Koperasi, employer, etc) to settle off your credit card debt as soon as possible.

For those who cannot discipline themselves but still wanted to keep their credit card:

Leave the credit card when you go for window shopping.
Hide them somewhere for a time you really needed.
Pay in full every time you make the payment.

As for me, credit card is my best friend, perhaps better than the ATM card. I use credit card more often and I relied too much on my credit card. Most of my bills i.e. telephone, internet, Astro, vacation club, utilities, etc are paid automatically via my credit card. This clears up my mind and I only concentrate on paying the credit card.

All my credit cards are free for life; yup no annual fee and without hidden cost and extra requirement i.e. minimum spending amount, minimum number of usage, etc. The benefits given by my credit card also suit my spending. For example, the Bank gives me cash rebate for pumping Petronas fuel into my car.

Once a year, I have to remit my professional membership fee to UK and once in a while I do make purchases online. My credit card does the job for me, saving a lot of money and hassle. As an example, I had an experience whereby the Banker’s Cheque sent to UK was lost. My membership fee were left outstanding for many months. I only realised that the money had been lost somewhere only after I received a reminder from the professional body. I had incurred a hefty sum of money to redeem the Banker’s cheque and do a fresh one.

Points collected for spending with credit card can be redeemed for goodies. For example, you could save a lot of money by redeeming your credit card points for an item that you would otherwise bought.

I had limited myself to use my credit card as much as possible. What are the benefits? I would have less cash in hand and I would make fewer visits to the ATM machine. This hopefully would reduce the risk related to having large amount of cash in hand.

By spending with credit cards, all your expenses are recorded in the credit card statement. Hence, you have somebody tracking and recording your expenses on a daily basis. Even during weekends, public holidays and after office hours! The best part is, you don’t even have to pay him/her.

I really make a full use of my credit card but I am not that disciplined also. How do I control my credit card spending?

As mentioned in the previous posting, I do have many facilities with the same Bank. For example, I have a mortgage facility (with flexibility to pay extra and redraw facility) and credit card with the same Bank on top of my salary being remitted to my savings account maintained with the Bank. Normally, I would immediately transfer my salary to the mortgage account. This would reduce the mortgage interest paid.

I have a separate spreadsheet to dissect monies in the mortgage account to different purposes. For example, each time I charged my credit card, the same amount will be reserve in the spreadsheet for credit card payment, thus reduces the balance amount that I can draw via ATM. Amount reserved for credit card will be maintained in the Mortgage account until they were fall due. Then only they were transferred to credit card account.

Whatever amount reserved between the day I charged my credit card and the day I pay my credit card will reduce the interest in my mortgage loan accordingly. It would also saved me from financial disaster, of not being able to pay off my credit card debt.

To conclude, the effective use of credit card do save me a lot of money (also time and headache).

Money Saving Tip #9

2009-05-31T13:05:00.003+08:00

Loose change

Do you carry around loose change nowadays? Well, I don’t. With the number of credit cards, discount cards and don’t know what other junks in my wallet and of course money, carry around loose change is the last thing that I wanted to. Many people are like me. We feel very uncomfortable carrying coins in our pocket or keeping them in our wallet, making our wallet fat and very uncomfortable to sit when you have them in your back pocket.

Last time I used to put it in a tin can (the square biscuit tin can). After a while the tin becomes full and heavy. Feels like a solid concrete if I were to move it around. Without a strategy, the money were left redundant.

So, have a strategy with your loose change. What you can do is:

Have a coin box or piggy bank where you can store your coins. Make sure you are the only one who can open them in order to avoid your little one pilferage them to buy ice-creams.
For loose change after paying your parking and toll, you can store them inside your car (it is not recommended due to safety but people are used to it).
Empty your car coin stash whenever you send the car for servicing or car wash. Transfer them to your piggy bank.
Empty your piggy bank when it is full or half full depending on the size of your piggy bank.
Count them and put them aside. Only put aside a round Ringgit (or round ten Ringgits) and the balance you can put back into your piggy bank.
Deposit all the coins on the next Banking day.
Whatever amount that you had deposited, draw out the same amount and purchase illiquid financial deposits.

I would recommend you to buy Sijil Simpanan Premium from BSN because:

There are a minimum number of days that you need to maintain the certificate.
It is not being accompanied by ATM card. Thus, it is not convenient to draw them out.
You can only redeem the certificate at BSN’s branches. The effort to find the branch and queue up at the counter might discourage you to cash out.
You cannot see the total amount that you have unless you add all the certificates. So you are less motivated to cash out since you seldom know how much you have.
Who knows you might win a car! Maybe the temptation is like striking a 4D. On a positive side, you might end up a compulsive SSP depositor and look for your number on a monthly basis...

Money Saving Tip #8

2009-05-31T12:23:00.003+08:00

Teh tarik sessions

Going for teh tarik or yum cha is part of our daily routine activities. For some, it was part of their morning start up, loosen up during the evening, networking session or socialization and even it is part of daily ritual, etc.

How much does a glass of teh tarik cost nowadays? How much does it cost you in a year? People may disagree with me but it is quite a lot of money. Money saved from teh tarik can perhaps sponsor you a Cuti-Cuti Malaysia trip. How’s that sound?

For those who can live without teh tarik session, go ahead and give it up. But for those who can't give it up because it is part of you, no worries. It is not like you have done something wrong. I do like my teh tarik session, where I can catch up with my friends and colleagues or loosen up after a stressful day. However, people like us can consider the following:

Instead of having it twice a day, reduce it to once a day, once in two days, once a week, etc.
Limit your drinks to a glass of teh tarik per session. Substitute your second glass to a glass of plain water.
Order smaller glass of teh tarik.
Try not to order roti canai. You might waste dinner prepared by your wife.
Drink at your office pantry or at your work desk.

The same could also be done for those who likes to go clubbing or drink at the pub...

Money Saving Tip #7

2009-05-26T23:20:00.002+08:00

Every cent counts

Previous posting did highlighted on the importance of monthly groceries shopping that could save up your petrol, parking and unnecessary premium price on things that you can plan ahead to buy at hypermarkets.

In this posting, I would like to share on how to reduce your monthly groceries further.

Buy home brand products like the Tesco Choice, Tesco Value, Carrefour Big Saver, etc. Some of those brands have the quality similar to branded products. Some other products like liquid detergent do not really differ in terms of quality to branded products with a fraction of its price.
Buy marked down products. Some products are marked down due to their damaged label or boxes. Their contents maybe intact. However, be very careful when buying marked down food products. Ensure that the contents are really intact and the expiry dates are not somewhere in the near future.
Buy refill pack instead of a full pack. You can buy Shokubutsu refill pack to add up to the existing soap dispenser. Well, I know it is going to get faded and looks out of place after a few months. If you want a long term solution, buy a nice soap dispenser from IKEA and refill it again and again.
Find for items with free gift i.e. extra content, complementary products, etc that were sold at same price and sometimes put at the same shelf side by side.
Compare prices between products. For example, you only drink Milo and drinking any other chocolate beverages would make you feel nausea. Compare price, for instance between 1kg Milo and 2kg Milo. You will be amazed. Sometimes buying 2 of 1kg Milo would be cheaper than buying one of 2kg Milo. Bring along a calculator in order to accurately calculate and compare prices.
Eat before you shop. Empty stomach would attract you to food. You would end up buying more food than you can eat. Learn the lesson from your yearly Pasar Ramadhan experience.

Sign up for loyalty card like the Sogo Card, Tesco Card, Jusco Card, etc that accumulates reward points for free gifts, shopping vouchers, etc. Some loyalty card also comes with free parking and information about member sales, clearance sale, etc. In order to enhance further the power of these cards, make payments with your credit card. By doing this, you would accumulate points for both your credit card and loyalty card. As not a big spender myself, I had got lots of goodies ranging from shopping vouchers up to an induction cooker by just crowding my wallet with these cards.

Timing of shopping could also help to save you money. How? During the weekend, people tend to wake up late. Being early would save you from KL jam, thus saving valuable fuel. Similarly, certain hypermarket like Tesco extended their operating hours during the weekend. Similarly, there are fewer cars on the road at 11pm as compared to 7.30pm.

Having a shopping list would help you not to miss important things that you need to buy as well as avoiding things that you do not really need. Remember, there are a lot of temptations in the supermarket. With a list in your hand, you would be preoccupied to search for your listed items and at the same time distract you from the temptations. It can also save time.

You do not need to draft a fresh list each time you are going for shopping. Have a master shopping checklist in your computer (or few hard copies that can be photocopied each time you need it). Before going for shopping, search your store (or wherever you keep your stuff) for items listed in the master list. You know better how many toothpaste or how much Nescafe do you need every month. Put in the figure that you need to buy (amount needed per month minus items in stock at your house) and off you go.

Remember, buy only whatever on the list unless there are really important stuff that you really forgot to include in the list.

Lastly, manage your store room or storing cabinet so that you would be more likely to take out older stocks first (First in first out). This is to avoid things get expired in your store. Nothing should go to waste.

Money Saving Tip #6

2009-05-24T16:33:00.005+08:00

Being a loyal bank customer pays off

You may have your salary being paid via your CIMB Bank savings account, mortgage loan with Public Bank, hire purchase with AmBank and credit card with Citibank. Nothing is wrong with this practice. In fact, you may have multiple facilities with different bank for a reason.

However, what would happen each time you received your salary? You will need to rush to each Bank to pay off your credit facilities.

Going to Banks to pay off your credit facilities do cost money. Think about how much petrol and parking fee that you would incurred. Not to mention the stress that you have to go through i.e. jam, people jumping queues, inefficient banking system, etc. Some of the tech savvy citizen may have the comfort of their own home to pay multiple bills via their CIMBclicks or Maybank2U account, but each of the interbank transaction would cost them RM2!

However, if you have all facilities with one Bank, you may save few Ringgits per month, being the cost incurred to pay off your financing facilities. On top of that, some Banks do package their Mortgage with Overdraft facility. By having this facility, every single cent parked in your Overdraft account will reduce interest charged for your housing loan. The house that you bought will be yours earlier! Further, you would have the flexibility of drawing out your salary (parked in the Overdraft Account) to pay your bills and commitments.

Illustration:

Scenario A

Say you took a mortgage loan of RM150,000 for a period of 360 months (30 years).
For illustration purpose, say Interest Rate is fixed at 7% for the entire tenure.
For this scenario, you would have to pay the Bank RM997.95 per month for the next 360 months.

Scenario B

Say you took a mortgage loan of RM150,000 for a period of 360 months (30 years).
For illustration purpose, say Interest Rate is fixed at 7% for the entire tenure.
For this scenario also, you would have to pay the Bank RM997.95 per month for the next 360 months.
However, say you have the Overdraft Account facility as mentioned above and you would transfer all your money to the account. For illustration purpose, say average amount of RM1,500 were maintained at all time in the account.
By just parking an average of RM1,500 to the account, your loan would be paid off 11 months earlier without even any cent extra from the first scenario!
The savings would be translated into around RM10K savings at the end of the tenure. Well, I don’t have to teach you how to spend RM10K right!

Although your salary is being paid to other Bank account, you can always transfer all of your money (and maintain the minimum required amount) to your favourite Bank on the same day itself. It would still cost you less Intrerbank Giro transaction fee.

By maintaining most of your money in one Bank account before your bills falls due may also entitled you to enroll for the banks deposit contest. Who knows you might win a car!

However, make sure that the one Bank you chose is really good in every aspect i.e. offers flexibility, low in interest charged, incentive for early payment, etc. Do not compromise small savings with substandard products. Use your judgment in selecting the best financial package for you.

Cartoon

2009-05-24T16:29:00.003+08:00

See how herd mentality can affect your investment decision...

Money Saving Tip #5

2009-05-20T00:43:00.000+08:00

Know where to spend & when to spend

Have you ever heard of competitive advantage? Well it means that companies selling similar items but serving different type of market (surely this is not Michael Porter’s definition).

Maybe I’m confusing you now. Think about our 2 beloved airline companies, Malaysia Airlines and AirAsia. Both are profitable. Some people like to fly with MAS, some like AirAsia and some like both, depending on situation. Both are offering the same service i.e. flying us to our destination but one is excellent in service and the other offers us low cost fare with no frills.

Now you got what I meant...

Same goes to the local grocery stores, hypermarket and franchised (or licensed) convenient stores. We would go to either of these stores when we wanted to buy groceries. They managed to co-exist and have their own competitive advantages. For example:

Low price: Carrefour, Tesco, Giant, Mydin, etc.
Convenient (location): your local kedai runcit (grocery stores).
Convenient (time): 7 Eleven, AM PM, KK, Kedai Mesra, etc.

If you want to buy a can of Coke, it is more rational to go to a convenient store nearest to your house or down your office rather than a hypermarket. You can save time and fuel (unless the hypermarket is next to your house). Same goes when you are craving for your favourite Pringles and Boss Coffee in the middle of the night, you might go to the nearest 7 Eleven when most of other shops are closed.

Because of these reasons, premium price can be charged for being convenient. You would buy your Coke at a price higher than you can buy them at Tesco. But, say buying Coke is emergency whereby you cannot wait not even a moment to quench your thirst and going to Tesco simply to buy a can Coke is not practical, there’s nothing much you could do about it.

But, when purchasing for your monthly groceries, you can plan well ahead of it, especially when you have drawn out your monthly budget. Buying groceries from hypermarket could save you tens or even hundreds of Ringgit monthly as compared to buying them from convenient stores.

Don’t get me wrong. It does not hurt you to go to the convenient store once in a while. Moreover, all these stores exist for a reason. You might need them one day or another. You just need to assess where and when to spend your money.

Plan your purchase and try to avoid impulse purchase!

Quote

2009-05-20T00:41:00.000+08:00

"If you owe the bank $100 that's your problem. If you owe the bank $100 million, that's the bank's problem" - JP Getty

Money Saving Tip #4

2009-05-19T05:06:00.001+08:00

Window shopping also cost money!

You should try to avoid window shopping. You may end up buying or signing up for something that you don’t need. Worst, some not only cost you money today, but for the next a couple of months or years.

Even if you are a very discipline type of person, it cost you petrol from your house to the shopping mall and back, parking (which is not cheap), toll and needless to say, getting stuck in the KL jam. You may also ended up eating at a fancy restaurant that cost you more money than what you had budgeted.

If you really cannot avoid window shopping cause it bothers you so much, at least keep the money you bring to the minimum and don’t bring along your credit card.

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2009-05-14T05:38:00.003+08:00

"Coming together is a beginning; keeping together is progress; working together is success" - Henry Ford

Lelongan Hartanah - Buat Tinjauan Awal

2009-05-14T05:24:00.002+08:00

MEMBELI rumah lelong bukanlah satu perkara yang negatif. Selain membantu pembeli terdahulu melangsaikan hutangnya dengan pihak bank, pembeli baru pula berjaya memperoleh hartanah pada kos yang diimpikan.

Menurut Pengurus Jualan yang juga jurulelong berlesen di Ehsan Auctioneers Sdn. Bhd., Mohd. Ali Abdul Majis, rumah lelong memberi peluang kepada pembeli memperoleh rumah idaman mereka pada harga yang mampu milik.

"Namun pada masa kini, masih ramai yang beranggapan rumah lelong adalah satu tabu di mana ia hanyalah rumah yang bermasalah.

"Ada di antara hartanah lelong ini satu permata bagi pembeli itu sendiri kerana lokasinya," ujar Mohd. Ali yang memaklumkan hartanah lelong mampu membantu pembeli berjimat.

Di samping itu, ia juga memberi peluang kepada pelabur untuk membuat pelaburan dalam bidang hartanah.

Sungguhpun begitu, katanya, ramai yang tidak mengetahui mengenai perkara-perkara asas yang berkaitan lelongan hartanah.

"Dalam lelongan awam, seperti yang dikendalikan oleh Ehsan Auctioneers yang merupakan wakil pihak bank untuk lelongan hartanah, lelongan dilakukan terhadap hartanah yang dirampas daripada pemilik asal kerana tidak menjelaskan hutang mereka.

"Biasanya pemilik asal akan diberikan beberapa notis dan amaran oleh pihak bank.

"Sekiranya pembayaran masih tidak dilunaskan, pihak bank akan menghantar surat tuntutan bayaran sebelum rampasan harta dibuat," kata Mohd. Ali.

Beliau memaklumkan bahawa di Malaysia, hartanah dilelong pada harga pasaran yang telah dinilai oleh penilai profesional.

"Harga pasaran ini akan menjadi harga rizab atau permulaan dalam acara lelongan."

Setelah itu, pengisytiharan jualan untuk acara lelong akan dilaksanakan.

"Undang-undang telah termaktub bahawa hartanah yang dilelongkan perlu diiklankan. Antara tempat di mana maklumat tersebut boleh diperoleh termasuklah surat khabar, mahkamah dan pejabat tanah.

"Syarikat-syarikat lelong turut akan mengiklankan hartanah yang akan dilelongkan sama ada melalui risalah ataupun melalui laman sesawang," jelas Mohd. Ali yang memberitahu ia biasanya dilakukan 14 hari sebelum tarikh lelongan.

Pada hari lelongan, mereka yang berminat membeli suatu hartanah lelong perlu membawa kad pengenalan dan juga wang tunai antara lima sehingga 10 peratus sebagai deposit seperti yang ditetapkan oleh pihak bank.

Di samping itu, pembida juga perlu menyediakan dokumentasi berkaitan sekiranya ingin membuat pinjaman perumahan dengan pihak bank seperti salinan kad pengenalan, slip gaji dan borang taksiran cukai pendapatan.

Pembida hanya boleh membida hartanah yang telah didaftar lebih kurang sejam sebelum acara bermula.

"Bidaan terbuka tidak dilakukan semasa acara. Sekiranya tiga orang telah mendaftar pada satu hartanah, hanya mereka bertiga yang akan bersaing untuknya," jelas Mohd. Ali.

Pembida yang berjaya mendapat hartanah yang diingini setelah penukul diketuk di meja dan jurulelong mengisytiharkan si pembelinya.

"Apabila penukul muktamad dibunyikan, ia bermakna pembida itu adalah pembeli sah.

"Beliau tidak dibenarkan menukar fikiran terhadap pembelian itu," jelas Mohd. Ali.

Setelah itu, pembeli akan menandatangani dokumen kontrak jualan dan membayar baki deposit.

"Jualan lelongan dilakukan dengan telus kerana orang ramai dapat melihat sendiri bidaan yang dilakukan oleh mereka yang berminat."

Mohd. Ali menegaskan, pembeli perlu memeriksa hartanah yang diingini dengan cermat sebelum menyertai acara lelongan.

"Mereka perlu melihat lokasi hartanah dan keadaannya. Butir-butir dalam pengisytiharan jualan hanya mengandungi maklumat asas seperti alamat kediaman itu.

"Tinjauan terlebih dahulu dapat mengelakkan pembeli terkilan. Antara perkara yang perlu dilihat ialah sama ada kediaman itu berpenghuni dan keadaan rumah sama ada anda perlu melakukan banyak kerja penyelenggaraan atau tidak dan juga kos-kos tambahan lain seperti bil-bil yang tertunggak."

Mohd. Ali menjelaskan, terdapat sesetengah bank yang akan menanggung kos-kos penyelenggaraan dan ada juga yang tidak berbuat demikian.

"Oleh itu, pembeli haruslah mendengar dan mengetahui dengan teliti terma-terma dan syarat yang dikeluarkan oleh pihak bank.

"Jurulelong akan memaklumkan tentang perkara itu. Tetapi pembida perlu faham apa yang dimaksudkan," katanya lagi.

Menyentuh mengenai kediaman lelong berpenghuni, Mohd. Ali berkata, sungguhpun perkara itu jarang berlaku, namun ia adalah tanggungjawab pembeli untuk menguruskan situasi berkenaan khususnya apabila dokumentasi hak milik hartanah telah ditukarkan kepada nama pembeli baru.

Selain itu, pembida perlu memeriksa maklumat-maklumat hak milik sama ada ia bersamaan dengan maklumat yang tertera dalam notis pengisytiharan jualan.

Berpengalaman selama enam tahun dalam bidang lelongan hartanah, Mohd. Ali berkata, terdapat permintaan yang tinggi terhadap hartanah lelongan.

"Ini kerana bank-bank pada masa kini menawarkan kadar dan pakej pinjaman yang menarik.

"Orang ramai juga telah sedar tentang potensi besar hartanah-hartanah lelong ini." - JOHANNA A. SOBREY

Source: www.kosmo.com.my

Bida Rumah Harga Murah

2009-05-14T05:19:00.002+08:00

Ramai yang tidak tahu mengenai manfaat rumah lelong. Wartawan JOHANNA A. SOBREY mengupas mengenai bidaan rumah di bawah harga pasaran itu.

BAGI pesara kerajaan, Abdul Rahim Abas, hartanah merupakan pelaburan terbaik yang pernah dilakukannya selepas bersara.

Gemar membaca, beliau mendapat ilham untuk melaburkan wangnya dalam sektor hartanah apabila membaca buku karya penulis dan konsultan kewangan bertauliah, Azizi Ali.

"Bagi saya dan isteri, Fadzilah Ishak, 59, pelaburan hartanah merupakan cara untuk kami menampung kehidupan selepas bersara.

"Sungguhpun tidak banyak, tetapi cukuplah untuk hidup selesa setiap bulan," kata lelaki yang berusia 65 tahun pada acara lelongan anjuran Ehsan Auctioneers Sdn. Bhd. di ibu kota baru-baru ini.

Tidak memilih rumah-rumah kediaman baru, pasangan suami isteri ini lebih menggemari hartanah lelong.

"Rumah lelong, bagi kami, memberi nilai pada wang. Bukan sahaja kediaman yang dibeli adalah jauh lebih murah daripada harga pasaran, tetapi ia membeli pulangan semula sungguhpun terpaksa membuat pengubahsuaian atau memperbaiki keadaan rumah.

"Selain itu, keuntungan juga diperoleh walaupun terpaksa mengambil pinjaman perumahan daripada pihak bank," ujar Abdul Rahim yang mengakui kerap menyertai acara lelongan bersama isterinya.

Membeli dan kemudian disewakan, pasangan ini telah berjaya membida lapan buah rumah di sekeliling Lembah Klang termasuk di Petaling Jaya, Shah Alam, Pelabuhan Klang dan Puchong.

"Perkara penting ketika membeli rumah lelong adalah mempunyai modal mencukupi dan pandai memilih lokasi.

"Bagi kami, rumah yang dibeli bukan sahaja di lokasi yang baik tetapi juga mempunyai kemudahan yang mampu menarik penyewa," kata beliau.

Memberi contoh, mereka pernah membeli sebuah kondominium di Kelana Jaya yang harga pasarannya RM430,000 tetapi berjaya dibida pada harga RM172,000.

"Dalam dua hingga tiga kilometer radius kondominium berkenaan, terdapat sekolah rendah dan menengah, institusi pengajian tinggi, pusat beli-belah, medan selera, bank, pejabat pos, stadium dan taman rekreasi.

"Ia juga dihubungkan dengan pengangkutan awam termasuk transit aliran ringan (LRT) dan perkhidmatan bas. Ia satu pembelian yang amat berbaloi," katanya yang memaklumkan kediaman tersebut akan diduduki oleh anaknya.

Sungguhpun gemar membeli rumah lelong, Abdul Rahim menegaskan bahawa ia tidak dilakukan sewenang-wenangnya tetapi memerlukan inisiatif pembeli sebelum membuat bidaan.

"Sebelum datang ke acara lelongan, kami akan pergi melihat sendiri keadaan dan juga lokasi kediaman itu.

"Kami juga akan berjumpa beberapa penduduk setempat untuk mendapatkan maklum balas terhadap kawasan kejiranan itu dan nilai sewa mereka. Apabila berpuas hati barulah kami membuat bidaan," jelas beliau yang berkecimpung dalam pelaburan hartanah lelong sejak setahun lalu.

Isterinya, Fadzilah, mencelah: "Adakalanya rumah yang dilelong itu berpenghuni. Oleh itu, sebagai bakal pembeli baru, ia memerlukan budi bicara dua pihak agar mendapat situasi menang-menang."

Tidak mengambil langkah drastik seperti pengusiran memaksa, mereka adakalanya memberi imbuhan kepada penduduk kediaman itu agar lot berkenaan dapat dikosongkan pada waktu yang ditetapkan atau apabila pembelian berjaya dimeterai.

Menurut Azizi Ali yang ditemui di pejabatnya yang terletak di Kelana Jaya baru-baru ini, pada hari ini hampir kesemua barangan boleh dijual secara lelongan.

"Pada tahun 2004, jumlah barangan dan perkhidmatan yang dijual melalui lelongan terus di AS dianggarkan bernilai AS$217 bilion (kira-kira RM760 bilion)," ujar Azizi.

Menyentuh mengenai lelongan hartanah di Malaysia, beliau berkata: "Sejak lima tahun kebelakangan ini perubahan persepsi terhadap hartanah lelong dapat dilihat.

"Sebelum ini hartanah lelong mendapat konotasi negatif seperti rumah yang tidak dibayar, berhantu ataupun membawa sial.

"Dahulu notis-notis lelongan hartanah di akhbar amat kecil dan jarang dilihat, tetapi sekarang, ia jelas banyak dan boleh diperoleh di laman sesawang ataupun risalah-risalah yang diedarkan kepada khalayak ramai."

Tambahnya, kini orang ramai sedar tentang potensi hartanah yang dilelong.

Tidak menyangkal tentang peluang pelaburan besar dalam hartanah lelong, pakar motivasi yang mengakui dirinya pelabur individu yang gemar mengunjungi acara lelongan hartanah, Azizi berpendapat tidak semua yang ditawarkan adalah unit yang baik dibeli.

"Boleh dikatakan 95 peratus yang ditawarkan tidak memenuhi kehendak ramai. Pertama sekali, unit yang dilelong itu mestilah mempunyai nilai pasaran.

"Tambahan pula, pasti terdapat masalah berkaitan dengan unit berkenaan sehingga menyebabkan ia dilelong," ujar Azizi.

Antara masalah yang dimaksudkan termasuk ketidakupayaan pemilik asal membayar pinjaman dan juga kos utiliti berkaitan termasuk kos penyelenggaraan jika dia tinggal di kondominium atau apartmen, bil air dan elektrik.

Menurut beliau, mereka yang membeli rumah lelong juga harus bersedia untuk menanggung kos-kos tambahan lain seperti membaiki hartanah berkenaan.

"Biasanya pembeli tidak membeli suatu hartanah yang dilelong buat kali pertama. Apa yang berlaku, mereka akan membeli pada lelongan seterusnya kerana harga unit itu terus diturunkan sehingga menjadi menarik," ujar Azizi yang memaklumkan jika harga jatuh di bawah jumlah pinjaman sebenar atau ke peringkat harga tidak munasabah, ia akan dibeli pihak bank.

Walaupun demikian, beliau berkata, ramai yang tidak mengetahui perkara asas mengenai pembelian hartanah lelong.

"Membeli hartanah lelong adalah suatu perkara mudah tetapi sering diambil ringan dan ini seterusnya akan menyebabkan kerugian kepada pembeli itu sendiri.

"Kesilapan utama yang dibuat ialah membeli hartanah di lokasi yang salah seperti jauh daripada kemudahan dan tumpuan ramai, membayar pada harga yang lebih tinggi daripada pembelian untuk kos-kos tambahan lain dan tidak mempunyai pengetahuan yang cukup."

Menurut beliau, seseorang tidak perlu mempunyai pengetahuan yang terlalu tinggi untuk membeli hartanah lelong tetapi cukup dengan pengetahuan asas seperti melakukan kajian terhadap hartanah yang diingini terlebih dahulu, melihat sendiri bagaimana acara lelongan berlangsung, mengetahui terma dan syarat pihak bank dan melihat potensi pasaran berkenaan.

"Membeli hartanah adalah satu pelaburan yang amat besar bagi individu, oleh itu sungguhpun dianggap remeh, tetapi pembeli haruslah melakukan kerja rumah mereka terlebih dahulu," katanya yang memberitahu tidak semua bidaan yang diingini individu akan berjaya.

Pasti, ujarnya, ada pembida yang akan menawarkan harga lebih tinggi daripada anda.

Sungguhpun memerlukan modal kira-kira 10 peratus daripada nilai hartanah berkenaan, Azizi berkata, pelaburan hartanah lelong juga memberikan pulangan yang besar kepada pembeli.

Bilakah waktu yang paling sesuai untuk membeli?

"Sekiranya anda mempunyai pengetahuan, tiada masa spesifik yang boleh dikatakan masa sempurna untuk melakukan pembelian," kata Azizi.

Source: www.kosmo.com.my

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2009-05-11T22:54:00.003+08:00

"The safest way to double your money is to fold it over once and put it in your pocket" - Kin Hubbard

Money Saving Tip #3

2009-05-11T21:45:00.013+08:00

Know where your money comes from and where it goes to – draw up a budget

Here’s a simple way on how to draw up a budget on a spreadsheet:

List all your incomes in Column 1.
List all your expenditures in Column 1.
Put in figures of your budgeted income & expenditures in Column 2.
Make sure that the final budgeted figure is not negative. If it is, try to reduce unnecessary expense. If it is still negative, try to consolidate your debts, and find ways to make it positive. If you still fail, then you are in trouble. Contact professionals who can help you or contact AKPK (Agensi Kaunseling & Pengurusan Kredit).
Fill in actual income and expenditures into Column 3. Make it a daily, weekly or monthly habit.
By the end of the month, look through your actual income & expenditures and find ways to improve your financial situation. Identify unnecessary expenses to be cut or reduced. Expenses on certain essentials can also be improved i.e. telephone bills, groceries, etc. Areas to be saved, stay tune to articles in this blog.

I had also attached a sample of budget to assist readers on preparing their own budget (Click here to download). The list is non-exhaustive. Income & expenses not listed are not necessarily not to be included. They are not relevant to me but may be very relevant to you. Draft your budget based on yourself.

Try to be as specific as possible. For example, I may have one column for rental income. You may have 3 properties that earned you rentals. Add column for each properties. The same goes to expenditures. When you have more properties, you may have to pay quit rent, insurance, maintenance, etc for each properties. Add more columns for those also. By doing this, you can zoom in specific income or expenditures to be improvised.

For simplicity, this budget is on cash basis. Whenever you receive or spend cash, you will record it. However, in order to smoothen your expenses especially when there are commitments to be made yearly, you can put aside a certain amount of money for that purpose. For example, you have to pay RM3,000 for your car insurance and road tax annually. You can save RM250 monthly. You can even open up a separate account just to pool all these expenses so that you won’t overspend the pool amount.

I would recommend that whenever you draft your budget, keep aside an amount to “pay yourself first”. You can create an item like the one in Row 18 in the template. This amount is for long term purpose i.e. part of your pension fund, for steady income generating and low risk investment, etc. The final balance of your budget (Row 64 in the template) can be used for other purpose like vacation, buying new sofa set, spend on your hobby, etc.

Lastly, stick to the budget.

Cheers...

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2009-05-05T22:17:00.004+08:00

"If you think nobody cares if you're alive, try missing a couple of car payments" - Anonymous

Money Saving Tip #2

2009-05-05T21:11:00.021+08:00

Keep reminding yourself to save money

Stick on your wallet or anywhere you comfortable something like “You have no money”.
Set your computer’s wallpaper or screensaver words that reminds or motivates you to save money.
Get your life partner to join you in this saving money activity so that none of you would label the other as cheapskate and you could also motivate each other.

Property Investment Strategy

2009-05-04T10:26:00.019+08:00

Why do people buy properties? Some bought for their own occupation, some as their vacation home, some as an investment, some for parents, childrens, etc etc etc.

Nevertheless, this article shall only discuss on investment properties i.e. as a source of passive income, as part of retirement plan, etc etc etc.

So, what did you do after purchasing property for investment? What is your strategy? There are 3 main strategies that can be taken:

BUY SELL, BUY SELL – make money by selling the property at a higher price than the purchase price by pocketing the Capital Gain.
BUY SELL, BUY KEEP – make money by pocketing the Capital Gain. Certain strategic investments are kept and rented out to cover loan instalment and maintenance.
BUY KEEP, BUY KEEP – properties are kept as long term investment and rented out to cover loan instalment and maintenance.

So, which strategy should you take? It depends on your risk appetite.

For more tips and strategies on property investment, stay tune to this blog.

Is Timeshare Losing Its Appeal Amid Turmoil?

2009-04-28T15:14:00.000+08:00

Property Talk with S.C. Cheah

Is the timesharing business losing its appeal in the wake of the global financial meltdown?

I ask this because one of the main reasons for buying a timeshare product is that it is supposed to be a hedge against inflation.

What this means is that a timeshare member is paying upfront for a holiday accommodation that is anticipated to cost much more in the future. In other words, if you are paying RM200 to RM400 to stay at a five-star hotel now, the rate could be much more several years down the road.

Usually, timeshare operators in Malaysia offer not only hotel-style rooms but cosy and well-equipped apartments in a resort. Another timeshare benefit is that instead of buying an expensive vacation home, staying there only a few days in a year and having to maintain the home, it is more affordable to “time share” a vacation unit with others. Usually you’d get to stay seven nights in a year in a timeshare unit.

The timesharing business hit a new high in the early 1990s during the economic boom when some people had lots of extra money and wished to invest in a good and reliable timeshare product.

At one stage, some timeshare companies came out with unique products like the “points” system to make it more affordable but one may still end up paying the same or more if one wanted to fill up the “bucket of points” to enjoy more benefits and entitlements.

Even in a downturn, timesharing is deemed cost saving as you could stay for free in a resort or by paying a surcharge for an affiliated resort. There are even more choices of resorts worldwide if a timeshare member also joins Resort Condominiums International (RCI).

In the past, several property developers also became timeshare operators whereby they used some of their apartments/condominiums as timeshare units.

However, unless the company is financially sound and well-run, such timeshare businesses may fold up, be downsized or be poorly managed.

Timeshare is not an easy business and is getting more difficult to market, especially when membership prices are increased without better services or there is an increase in the number of new accommodation.

I am glad that I joined the Berjaya Vacation Club (BVC) in 1999 when the timeshare membership was RM18,000 for the Esteem membership that entitles me to a two-room unit.

I was told that this Esteem membership rose to RM40,000 about a year ago before it was discontinued but existing members like me who joined earlier still enjoyed our benefits. I also enjoy a guaranteed pay-back scheme after 38 years! That was a good deal as my purchase has appreciated in value and is also transferable!

But things changed recently.

BVC members were notified that “due to the change in the marketing strategy and re-branding exercise of the Berjaya hotels and resorts division, the internal arrangement with Berjaya Hotels & Resorts has been terminated”.

Members must pay a surcharge from Nov 1 this year when they stay at the Berjaya Eden Park Hotel in London, Berjaya Beau Vallon Bay Beach Resort & Casino and Berjaya Praslin Beach Hotel (both in The Seychelles) and the Berjaya Mount Royal Beach Hotel in Colombo, Sri Lanka. They were previously free.

It must be noted that BVC members still enjoy free stay at resorts/apartments such as the KL Plaza, Tioman Beach Resort, and Meranti Park Apartments at Berjaya Hills which are part of the original inventory.

In the case of the Berjaya Eden Park Hotel, members have to pay RM280 per room per night. I had taken my family to London last August and stayed at the hotel for the first time for free as a BVC member. The four rooms (two double and two single beds) that we booked would have cost us in total nearly RM3,000 a night and we stayed there for nearly two weeks.

So having to pay RM280 is still not too bad except that AirAsia now offers a KL-London, five-day/four-night return flight and hotel stay for only RM1,699 per person!

Now assuming that instead of buying an RM18,000 membership (excluding compound interest) and one had put the money in fixed deposit at 4% interest a year, the opportunity cost would have been RM720 plus the RM330 a year in BVC maintenance fees totalling RM1,050. Divide this by seven nights, it would cost about RM150 a night. Add this to the RM280 to stay at the Berjaya Eden Park, it would total RM430 a night.

Obviously, this is much more expensive than the AirAsia deal.

BVC now sells only the Executive membership (one room unit) for RM30,000 with RM275 annual maintenance charge and without any pay-back scheme like before.

Source: The Star, 8.12.2008

Money Saving Tip #1

2009-04-28T00:02:00.006+08:00

Set a target

In setting your money saving target, you should at least consider the following:

What to do with the money? – I believe most of the reasons like going for vacation, buying new watch, upgrading to a bigger car, etc had been highlighted in the previous posting.
How much to save? – Amount depends on the purpose of the savings. Don’t forget to put in some buffer to commensurate errors in calculation, inflation, etc.
When do you need it? – Timeframe that you have to meet the amount for the purpose.
Who to save? – As saving can be fun, you should consider doing it in a group. Well, rope in your life partner. Apart from saving time and effort, you guys can motivate and remind each other towards unified goal. As such, none of you would accuse the other a cheapskate.
Where to get the money from? – Either you earn more or reduce expenses. We shall discuss this in greater details in the nest postings.

Example:

Say you and your wife planned a visit to Beijing, China.
Pricing quoted by POTO Travel & Tours (on posting date) is RM2,488 per pax for a 7 days 6 nights visit to Beijing (including airfare, accommodation, visiting tickets, halal foods, etc – if you are interested, feel free to visit www.pototravel.com.my). You may need RM1,000 each to spend there i.e. shopping, souvenirs, miscellaneous, etc.
You planned to go there at least a year later.
Say both are going to save equally. As such, each would be saving RM3,488 (RM2,488 + RM1,000) within the next 365 days. Each day you need to save up about RM10.
How to save? Stay tune to the next posting...

Seloka Cak Kun Cak

2009-04-27T00:01:00.000+08:00

by: Tan Sri SM Salim & M.Nasir

Satu masa yang telah silam
Tak dapat diambil kembali
Melayu masyhur serata alam
Hidup mewah gagah sekali

Pahlawan kita nama terbilang
Ditakuti ramai perwira
Melawan musuh tak terbilang
Gerak semangat kerana bangsa

Kelekaan jangan dikenang
Lautan duka kelak dikenang
Hampir tinggal sehelai benang
Bencana sengaja dipinang

Jika perhati bangsa dagang
Kapak beliung ditangan memegang
Kekayaan hendak diregang
Akhirnya saudagar pangkat dijulang

Disulami syair termashyur
Usahlah berdengkur
Kita jua yang bertafakur
Yang mana khilaf tegur menegur

Kulitnya bersih, hati pun bersih
Budi yang baik hatinya pengasih
Kulitnya bersih hatipun bersih
Memikul belati tiada memilih
Jadikah bersih hatipun bersih
Berkata benar bermulut fasih
Jadikah bersih, hatipun bersih
Dialah khazanah pintu terpilih

Awak yang payah membelah ruyung
Orang bertandang yang beroleh untung
Akhirnya kita tak akan dihitung

Quote

2009-04-26T23:44:00.012+08:00

"A penny saved is a penny earned" - Benjamin Franklin

Basically, any amount of money that you don't waste is the same as earning that much of money.

Money Saving Tips - Introduction

2009-04-26T21:47:00.004+08:00

Why is it important to save money? By saving money, you may have extra money to:

spend on things that you would really wanted to i.e. performing umrah, family vacation, investing in your hobby, buy a nice watch, etc;
spend on things that you had planned or expecting ahead (i.e. for marriage, hospital bill for your newborn, downpayment for a property, etc) without relying on external financial assistance like personal loan, overdraft, credit card, loan sharks, cheti, etc;
reduce tenure of your mortgage simply by paying more with the amount that you have saved;
reduce revolving credit line like overdraft or settling credit card balances;
buying a more expensive car that suits you (and your family) needs i.e. bigger car, more fuel efficient, less maintenance cost, spacious, etc;
simply reducing your expenses in order to cope with your income; and
many other reasons that I can’t be thinking of right now.

The tips listed are based on my personal experience, what had been taught by other people (especially my parents, relatives, friends, financial gurus, etc), based on my readings and pure common sense. The tips listed are the less painstaking ways to save money rather than a drastic measure to become cheapskate or a shortcut to become kiasu.

I shall share the tips bit by bit, so stay tune to the blog for new tips. Tips will not be listed in order as I would pen down whatever I think relevant, achievable and realistic that has come across my mind. If you want a nice list, buy a book.

Saving money can be fun and simple especially if you can make it as a habit. So buckle up and enjoy the tips that I would be publishing in this blog. If you think information published is useful, do share it with your friends and get them to visit the blog for more tips.

Cheers.

Coke vs Pepsi - Which one sells more?

2009-03-27T22:26:00.000+08:00

When Roberto Goizueta took over as CEO of Coca-Cola in the 1980s, he was faced with intense competition from Pepsi that was eating into Coke's growth. His executives were Pepsi-focused and intent on increasing market share 0.1 per cent a time.

Roberto decided to stop competing against Pepsi and instead compete against the situation of 0.1 per cent growth.

He asked his executives what was the average fluid intake of an American per day? The answer was 14 ounces. What was Coke's share of that? Two ounces. Roberto said Coke needed a larger share of that market. The competition wasn't Pepsi. It was the water, tea, coffee, milk and fruit juices that went into the remaining 12 ounces. The public should reach for a Coke whenever they felt like drinking something.

To this end, Coke put up vending machines at every street corner. Sales took a quantum jump and Pepsi has never quite caught up since.

Source: Unknown

The Tortoise And The Hare - The Untold Story

2009-03-27T22:04:00.000+08:00

Once upon a time a tortoise and a hare had an argument about who was faster.

They decided to settle the argument with a race. They agreed on a route and started off the race. The hare shot ahead and ran briskly for some time. Then seeing that he was far ahead of the tortoise, he thought he'd sit under a tree for some time and relax before continuing the race. He sat under the tree and soon fell asleep. The tortoise plodding on overtook him and soon finished the race, emerging as the undisputed champ. The hare woke up and realized that he'd lost the race.

The moral of the story is that slow and steady wins the race. This is the version of the story that we all are grown up with.

The story continues…

The hare was disappointed at losing the race and he did some soul-searching. He realized that he'd lost the race only because he had been overconfident, careless and lax. If he had not taken things for granted, there's no way the tortoise could have beaten him. So he challenged the tortoise to another race. The tortoise agreed.

This time, the hare went all out and ran without stopping from start to finish. He won by several miles.

The moral of the story?

Fast and consistent will always beat the slow and steady. If you have two people in your organization, one slow, methodical and reliable, and the other fast and still reliable at what he does, the fast and reliable chap will consistently climb the organizational ladder faster than the slow, methodical chap. It's good to be slow and steady; but it's better to be fast and reliable.

But the story doesn't end here…

The tortoise did some thinking this time, and realized that there's no way he can beat the hare in a race the way it was currently formatted. He thought for a while, and then challenged the hare to another race, but on a slightly different route. The hare agreed.

They started off. In keeping with his self-made commitment to be consistently fast, the hare took off and ran at top speed until he came to a broad river. The finishing line was a couple of kilometers on the other side of the river. The hare sat there wondering what to do. In the meantime the tortoise trundled along, got into the river, swam to the opposite bank, continued walking and finished the race.

The moral of the story?

First identify your core competency and then change the playing field to suit your core competency. In an organization, if you are a good speaker, make sure you create opportunities to give presentations that enable the senior management to notice you. If your strength is analysis, make sure you do some sort of research, make a report and send it upstairs. Working to your strengths will not only get you noticed, but will also create opportunities for growth and advancement.

The story still hasn't ended…

The hare and the tortoise, by this time, had become pretty good friends and they did some thinking together. Both realized that the last race could have been run much better. So they decided to do the last race again, but to run as a team this time.

They started off, and this time the hare carried the tortoise till the riverbank. There, the tortoise took over and swam across with the hare on his back. On the opposite bank, the hare again carried the tortoise and they reached the finishing line together. They both felt a greater sense of satisfaction than they'd felt earlier.

The moral of the story?

It's good to be individually brilliant and to have strong core competencies; but unless you're able to work in a team and harness each other's core competencies, you'll always perform below par because there will always be situations at which you'll do poorly and someone else does well. Teamwork is mainly about situational leadership, letting the person with the relevant core competency for a situation take leadership.

There are more lessons to be learnt from this story.

Note that neither the hare nor the tortoise gave up after failures. The hare decided to work harder and put in more effort after his failure. The tortoise changed his strategy because he was already working as hard as he could.

In life, when faced with failure, sometimes it is appropriate to work harder and put in more effort. Sometimes it is appropriate to change strategy and try something different. And sometimes it is appropriate to do both.

The hare and the tortoise also learnt another vital lesson. When we stop competing against a rival and instead start competing against the situation, we perform far better.

To sum up, the story of the hare and tortoise teaches us many things:

Never give up when faced with failure
Fast and consistent will always beat slow and steady
Work to your competencies
Compete against the situation, not against a rival.
Pooling resources and working as a team will always beat individual performers

Let’s go and build stronger teams!

Source: Unknown

Quote

2009-03-26T22:19:00.004+08:00

"If you're going to be thinking, you may as well think big" - Donald Trump

Quote

2009-03-17T14:28:00.003+08:00

"There is only one boss. The customer. And he can fire everybody in the company from the chairman on down, simply by spending his money somewhere else" - Sam Walton

Warren Buffett’s advice for 2009

2009-03-17T11:33:00.000+08:00

We begin this New Year with dampened enthusiasm and dented optimism. Our happiness is diluted and our peace is threatened by the financial illness that has infected our families, organizations and nations. Everyone is desperate to find a remedy that will cure their financial illness and help them recover their financial health. They expect the financial experts to provide them with remedies, forgetting the fact that it is these experts who created this financial mess.

Every new year, I adopt a couple of old maxims as my beacons to guide my future. This self-prescribed therapy has ensured that with each passing year, I grow wiser and not older. This year, I invite you to tap into the financial wisdom of our elders along with me, and become financially wiser.

* Hard work: All hard work bring a profit, but mere talk leads only to poverty.

* Laziness: A sleeping lobster is carried away by the water current.

* Earnings: Never depend on a single source of income [At least make your Investments get you second earning].

* Spending: If you buy things you don’t need, you’ll soon sell things you need.

* Savings: Don’t save what is left after spending; spend what is left after saving.

* Borrowings: The borrower becomes the lender’s slave.

* Accounting: It’s no use carrying an umbrella, if your shoes are leaking.

* Auditing: Beware of little expenses; A small leak can sink a large ship.

* Risk-taking: Never test the depth of the river with both feet [Have an alternate plan ready].

* Investment: Don’t put all your eggs in one basket.

I’m certain that those who have already been practicing these principles remain financially healthy. I’m equally confident that those who resolve to start practicing these principles will quickly regain their financial health.

Let us become wiser and lead a happy, healthy, prosperous and peaceful life.

Source: www.financialexpress.com

Warisan

2009-03-05T21:59:00.002+08:00

Anak kecil main api
Terbakar hatinya yang sepi
Air mata darah bercampur keringat
Bumi dipijak milik orang

Nenek moyang kaya raya
Tergadai seluruh harta benda
Akibat sengketa sesamalah kita
Cita lenyap di arus zaman

Indahnya bumi kita ini
Warisan berkurun lamanya
Hasil mengalir ke tangan yang lain
Pribumi merintih sendiri

Masa depan sungguh kelam
Kan lenyap peristiwa semalam
Tertutuplah hati terkunci mati
Maruah peribadi dah hilang

Kini kita cuma tinggal kuasa
Yang akan menentukan bangsa
Bersatulah hati bersama berbakti
Pulih kembali harga diri

Kita sudah tiada masa
Bangunlah dengan maha perkasa
Janganlah terlalai teruskan usaha
Melayu kan gagah di nusantara