Sunday, October 30, 2011

I'm Still Around

When Rumi finally completes the long-delayed Vol. 3 of Masnavi, his explanation in the opening verse of the book is the most compelling: It takes time for blood to turn into milk! His excuse/reason is doubly profound if you know the background story which had to do with his son's prolonged illness from which he happily recovered.

I have no such exquisite reason but reasons good enough. I had several commitments, some quite time-consuming, that came due one after another in September and October. Then I began a long-planned month-long trip to areas with spotty, slow and blocked internet access which made writing very difficult and posting impossible. Let us say that all was a Black Swan. That should explain everything.

My apologies and thanks for the kind inquiries. I am not back to my base yet but getting there. Will return shortly.

Tuesday, October 25, 2011

Get ALL Your Tax back . . .

Visit http://howmuchtaxcanisave.co.cc/

Lets say this year your gross income is $20,000 ( about $ 1,700 a month ), you may start to pay tax.  ( about $10 a month ).


Click the extend + sign to see everything.  Then think of which item is relevant to you.  For below case, this guy can

  • buy a life insurance of $ 3,800
  • buy $500 magazines
  • buy a $2,000 PC 
Make sure keep all the receipts and the receipt dates show 2011.  Then comes 2012 when you are filing your tax, you can get back all your tax deducted by your company !!



The web site is just an estimator or for fun or for educational purpose only.  Your actual tax plan and figures may subject to your very own unique condition.  Do consult a proper tax consultant or IRB is providing FREE advices when it is near tax submission date.

Enjoy !!

Tuesday, October 18, 2011

Robert Kiyosaki copied our article ?

Finally, even a guru like Robert Kiyosaki has to copy MalPF article and post as his own ...


just kidding, of course.

Friday, October 7, 2011

A new level of Frugality

Frugality in Kuala Lumpur has just gone one level deeper.  A saving of about $550 monthly, a 2 hours exercise sessions for FREE and an opportunity to explore natures within the city has just been proven recently with just ONE simple ACT !  As everything goes, there is some trade off or 'risk' too ...

Its Cycling To Work !

Mathew was a guy who suffers from a terrible 24.3% inflation in 2009.  After he started to follow this blog, he has learned a trick or two to keep things going smoother.  Today he is working as a top executive in a public company but situation hasn't changed much.  He is still in middle level income group.  After his 5 figures income divided by the number of people he has to support, his actual cash-at-hand per person monthly is much less than average personal income ie. $1,500.

Many staffs who worked for Mathew always complains about how tough their lives are and demand a salary increment without extra performance to the company ( while their single income is about $1,500 as well).  Mathew thinks it was obvious his staffs weren't educated well enough in personal finance so he decided to role model to show a point - live frugally.

He used to drive about an hour to work, commute about 22 km and then spent about $10+ for parking fee.  Now instead of doing all that, now

He cycles to work

After the decision was made, he first bought a huge term insurance to cover this temporary needs.  After all, he doesn't want his teaching to his staff to affect his even more important loves to his families.

Once the insurance is approved, he started cycling to work.  It wasn't easy.  He first followed his driving route.  It was dangerous as cars and motorbikes are cruising fast by, ignoring his existence.  But the good thing about cycling . . . is that its both a pedestrian and a driver.  So very soon he found a much shorter and safer path, only 12.1km instead of driving 22 km away.


It took him about one hour to cycle to work.  ( Above 2.5 hours was for walking time )  So practically this doesn't affect any of his schedule at all.  As a matter of fact, this improve the stability of his schedule.  Even when there is an unexpected traffic jam which would cause a normal 1 hour driving to 2-3 hours, his cycling time remains the same as 1 hour.


Mathew also lost 6-8kgs since then, has a much tougher built body now.  He used to pay a lot joining fitness centers etc. but never got the time to actually exercise because he is a workaholic.  Now he HAS TO exercise 2 hours a day.

Mathew also started a health diet to eat more veggie and fruits even before this cycling idea.  Thanks to this cycling exercise, his cycling route passed by a local market at Chow Kit ( one of the oldest and largest wet market in Kuala Lumpur ), he now manages to buy 5 star fruits for only $1, which fuel his breakfast and lunch.

There are much more indirect benefits he received since he started cycling to work.  But as everything goes, there must be some Cons that comes with the Pros.  Should one accident happens during his cycling commute, it would most probably cost him his life.  While he was well aware of the risk, he took action to insure against that rick and he also find ways to improve his own skills and awareness to maximize his own safety.

There are quite a lot of tips and tricks he has developed since he cycles to work.  If you were moved by this article and wanted to try this too . . . be warn ahead, there is some risks involved.  Do spend some time to buy me a cup of coffee so I can share with you whatever those tips and tricks are so that you can minimize your risk and maximize your return / saving / investment.


DrivingCycling
Time1 hour1 hour
Petrol$10 per day$0
Parking$5 - $10 per day$0


I am just glad living frugally in a city like Kuala Lumpur has just gone one level deeper.  With tons of other extra benefits and with only ONE major risk that a person who really cares can mitigate easily with skills and experience.

Have you managed to find any innovative ways to cut your expenditure or increase your saving by 25% !?

Monday, October 3, 2011

Interview : FatherSez - fathersez.com

FatherSez is one of the pioneers in Malaysia Personal Finance blogsphere.  He started his first blog post on 8 September 2007, one year earlier than this blog.  He has always been one of the great minds I wanted to meet in person one day.  But little did I know back then, opportunity fade away sooner than I thought.  FatherSez passed away on 4 August 2009.


Although we never met and now lost the chance to ever meet again, we never feel far apart.  During earlier years even after 100 posts, I was still a skeptic about blogging.  It was actually FatherSez who found my sharing useful and kept me going.

Even years after his departure, I never forget every single word we transact online; through our virtual identities.  But he was busy with his venture and I was busy with my entrepreneurship back then as well.  We never met in person although both of us wanted to.  Well, at least I wanted to ( Fathersez received too many requests to meet that he couldn't accommodate to all . . . )

FatherSez is unique in his own way because it was clearly a message from parent to kids.  It was written with a legacy in mind, for the kids and the future.  I haven't read a personal finance blog that is as parental, as philosophical, as practical and most truthfully show his love toward his kids without reservation.


I was very scare and afraid after confirming the fact that he did pass away 7 months after his departure.  I worry his web site will be shut down very soon.  But 2 years down the road, I managed to contact one of his legacy, Azah.  And words cannot describe how grateful I am when I know FatherSez is still alive today.  This simply means whatever message FatherSez wanted to deliver has been well received.

What else can be more grateful 
than after you are gone, 
your messages are still 
being hold tight by someone ?

I have conducted email interviews to some of the personal finance web sites or blogs recently.  Fathersez is one of them.  Since I couldn't reach Fathersez anymore, I made a request to his legacy.  To my surprise, she accepted the interview request ...




At young age, Fathersze was one of those where today's basic necessity was not readily given by nature.  He had to walk 12km to school.  Luckily his uncle had supported him mostly not from any monetary form but most critically important - the existence of love and family tie.  Also thanks to his uncle?  Fathersez was exposed to accounting at early age, as early as his primary school time working in a cloth selling shop.  This was one of the key differentiation why he was able to contribute so much to our personal finance blogsphere today.  For other luckier kid like me, I was only worrying what lunch I can have with my 50 cents pocket money for that day.

. . . here is the original interview scripts . . . with minor censorship for privacy reason.

If you were also a FatherSez follower before you read this, you would most probably agree with me that a FatherSez 2.0 is in the making.  The way Azah write and feel for herself and also on behalf of Fathersez, clearly show how great a legacy FatherSez had left behind.  And how similar she is to her father.  And yet with a touch of 21st century of her own.

Lastly, a word for my dear friend Fathersez, for science or for faith, I hope one day you can read this . . . one way or another, I want you to know without a single doubt, a stranger like me . . .  miss you very much too.