Super FD with 8.88% ???

Recently, Public Bank wrest its muscle to attracts depositors to place their money with them. This has becomes an annual promotional event to get as much deposits after Chinese New Year. The reason was simple: CNY Ang Pow money... What is so exciting this round?

The campaign is open to all new and existing Public Bank individual customers from 28 Jan till 30 June 2014. All you need to do by placing a minimum RM30,000 deposit. Then, it will be separated into 2 portions, 80% in Special Fixed Deposit (FD) and 20% in Saving Account (SA). 

Yes. Depositors can get up to 8.88% p.a. interest on a step-up basis on the 12th month. Can you get it? It's 8.88% p.a. on the 12th month ONLY, not the whole tenure.

So, what's the EFFECTIVE rate that I can get?

Please refer to the below picture...

Not bad what... Wait... This is only on the 80% FD portion. If you add in the 20% SA portion to the whole principal that you have placed, it's lower than 4.33% p.a. actually. Anyway, it's still better than most FD rate offered by other banks. Cheers to Public Bank !!!

How about the FD rate after 12 months?

It will be auto-renewed according to the normal 1-month FD rate by that time (3.08% p.a. currently). So, if you don't like the 1-month FD rate offered, remember to uplift your money after 12 months ya ;)

What if I withdraw within 12 months?

You can do so. But, the interest paid (which is more than the prevailing FD interest rate) will be claw back. Please refer to below example.

Exclusive Interview with KCLau

The first article of 2014, we bring to you one of the most successful blogger and one of the best selling book author. Many people will definitely know him, especially for those of you who are from financial industry. With his popular blog named KCLau.com , he shared with readers some financial tips which is very useful and practical.

Let's head over to the exclusive interview session with KCLau as below:

1. Hi KCLau, what makes you so passionate about financial education?
   In actual fact, everybody is not born equal in this world. Some are born in the third world countries and most of them don't stand a chance to live a wealthy life. But some are born with golden keys, destined to be billionaires because they are in the elite family.
   
   
   Understanding this fact, I just want to play my part to give the extra push most people need to live a better life. Although we agree that money can't buy everything, with adequate financial knowledge, you won't be poor. Since I know a little bit more about this subject because I get involved in the financial industry, I just want to share my knowledge. And realizing that financial education is not taught in schools, a more serious kind of financial educator is very much needed.
   
   
2. What makes you start writing books, which eventually transformed yourself to be one of the best selling author?
   I started with short article writing. You can find it all on my earliest blog posts. Some of the financial tricks I wrote about is so simple and easy to implement. So eventually when all the money tips are added up, it could really be compiled into books.
   
   
   Frankly, my writing is not superb. I got A1 in SPM English (which is very easy), but I didn't score A in 1119 English exam. So my writing skill is not novelist material. In fact, it is very far from that. However, I guess this weakness is also the strength since majority readers prefer to read something that's easy to digest.
   
   
   So, I think my books sell well due to the straight-forward writing style and the useful and practical money tips.
   
   
3. Between books and online education, which do you prefer and why?
   I really prefer online education. Book requires reading only. And it is a lot harder to produce and it involves printing costs. Meanwhile, online education can be done in so many ways: email, video, ebooks, podcast, blog posts, webinar etc. It involves a lot of your senses and incorporates many ways of learning. So, it is much more effective compared to books alone.
   
   
   Online medium is more interactive and also faster in response time. I can constantly tweak things and meet the expectation and needs of my customers.
   
   
4. When was your blog (www.KCLau.com) started? And, what's the success factor which makes it to be one of the most visited blog in Malaysia?
   My first blog post is published in 13th Dec 2006. It is about how to get your first car free.
   
   
   At that time, there are already a bunch of other personal finance blog. But many bloggers had stopped updating and gave up halfway over the years. I still persist and publish articles consistently due to several reasons:
   
   
   - Readership Growth - when you know there are more people counting on you and appreciating what you are doing, you'll have the momentum to carry on.
   - Profit Growth - it has evolved into a full time business for me. Most bloggers gave up probably because they couldn't get adequate monetary rewards that's matching the efforts and time they put into the blog.
   
   
   I guess the success factor is that I eventually found out the proper way to monetize the blog and treat it like a serious business.
   
   
   
5. In 2014, what kind of changes you hope to see in Malaysia financial industry and why/how?
   This is a very ambitious question. The industry is still evolving fast. It is great that we have so many bodies and organizations that govern, administer and imposing new rules and guideline every now and then for the professionals to do their job better.
   
   
   The constant change I hope for is to have everyone really treat their own finances seriously. If you can understand how to save, how to invest, how to accumulate, and the most importantly, realizing that you NEED to know this stuff, then there will be less people getting into financial problem. We will definitely have a better society and community to live in.
   
   
   How can we make this happen? I would suggest the followings:
   - make financial education one of the formal subject in schools
   - give tax exemption for course fees spent on financial education (investment courses etc)
   - impose high estate tax and reduce income tax
   
   
   The rationale behind is that you should be taxed a lot on the wealth you inherited, not so much on the wealth you acquire with your effort. Then this hopefully will level the playing field and everybody have the same opportunity to get rich.
   
   
   
   It is like playing the game of Monopoly. If you start with the amount of money greater than the bank, it really doesn't matter what you get rolling the dice. This is the advantage of the rich family. In the game of Monopoly, every starts up is equal. But in real life, we are not.
   
   
   Well, we can say all these but I don't think it will ever happen because the laws are made by rich people for the benefits of their rich family. As long as the common citizens feel contented, the wealthy will still dominate politics, economy and their special rights. So, the rich needs to make sure it stays that way. They can still enjoy their unfair advantages as long as the common people don't get angry and complain.
   
   
   So, in a nutshell, I hope to see everybody starts their life with equal opportunity and the success will only be determined by their own effort. Thanks.

25% Tax for Private Retirement Scheme (PRS) ?

Christmas is coming to town, but before that, it was also the time when many people are rushing to enroll/top up their Private Retirement Scheme (PRS). Why? Main reason is they want to enjoy the tax relief given of up to Rm3,000 per year. However, social media has over-took the whole atmosphere with the purported 25% tax on PRS. Is this true?

All I want for Christmas is Tax-Free...

Why suddenly got 25% tax? It was all started with the below video...

Anyway, some people had misunderstood the meaning and translated into such chaos in social media with more than few thousand likes and comments. Well, it seems like the respond garnered already impacting the PRS contributions for many people.

Since then, the Private Pension Administrator (PPA) which was set up to monitor and administer the whole PRS scheme, had issue a statement to clarify on this matter. Likewise, Inland Revenue Board (LHDN) also issue a statement on this matter. (Click here to view)

To summarize:

1. NO tax on PRS withdrawal when contributor reaches the official retirement age set (currently at age 55)
2. As per previous terms, 8% tax penalty will be imposed if contributor withdraw before retirement age.
3. However, the 8% tax penalty will be exempted if:
• In the event of Death;
• Permanent departure from Malaysia;
• Permanent total disablement (New addition);
• Serious disease (New addition); or
• Mental disability (New addition)

Gone are the so called bad news. Indeed, there is more good news with the 3 NEW pre-retirement withdrawal conditions. PRS contributors should feel relieve now.

Take the opportunity to invest before the closing date for respective PRS providers. You may refer to our previous article on PRS below:

• What is Private Retirement Scheme (PRS) ?
• How Private Retirement Scheme (PRS) actually works ?
• What Are the Tax Benefits for PRS ?

Bursa Malaysia's eStatement

Today, Bursa Malaysia introduced eStatement services to CDS account holders. It enables CDS account holders to receive statements and notices directly from Bursa Malaysia via email.

What's the benefits?

1. To receive CDS statements and notices efficiently and on a timely basis with NO extra cost
2. To receive CDS statements and notices directly to your personal email
3. Minimize risks of not receiving your CDS statements and notices
4. Less cumbersome to keep hard-copy statements compared to soft-copy

For many of us, this is definitely an environmental friendly way of communicating. Also, it effectively reduce the cost of doing business for Bursa Malaysia. Once it implemented successfully, the profits of Bursa should be better... Considering to invest in Bursa shares now?

How to register?

1. From now onward, you CDS statement of account and any notice you receive from Bursa Depository will include your "Unique Password Phrase". (This will ceased once you successfully provide your email address via Bursa Malaysia's website)
2. Then, log on to Bursa Malaysia's website and select "Request for eStatement"
3. Follow the steps and fill-in your personal details as required

As simple as that, NO document needed, NO extra cost, NO headache again. However, please be mindful that once you have provided your email address for eStatement, you will not receive any statements or notices via normal post anymore. Once successful register, you will receive an email confirming your email address within 2 business days and thereafter a computer generated confirmation notice will be mailed to your address.

I have already register my email address under eDividend initiative, do I need to register again?

YES, because there are different type of services.

I have more than one CDS account, do I need to register my email address for each of them?

NO, you just need to register one email address ONCE for all your CDS accounts.

For nominee account, how is it?

You will need to contact your nominee (etc banks or stock broking firms).

For more FAQs answer, click here.

DBKL hikes assessment rate for the sake of hiking?

Maybe the timing was not right, DBKL is in hot water these few weeks, lambasted by KL citizens for its proposed assessment rate hike up to 200%. Just when GST is coming to town, coupled with the fact that the more expensive electricity bill next month, citizens were feeling the pinch in their pocket.

What's the reason for the hiking?

Answer: "The last increase was more than 20 years ago."

As simple as that? It must be joking us... Why don't you lower down your salary because you haven't done so for past years? We're not objecting about the increase for sake of objecting. But, some form of better reason should be justify for the proposal.

Is DBKL running out of money?

According to Star newspaper, Tan Sri Ahmad Fuad Ismail, predecessor to the current mayor, pointed out that he had raised reserves amounting to RM3bil prior to retiring last year. This means that the current mayor inherited RM3bil when he took over.

With additional development expenditure and grants funded by Federal Government under various plans, DBKL should be enjoying handsome surplus. In fact, DBKL is making profits every year and together with its RM3bil cash coffer, we just don't know why such assessment hike was needed.

Instead, DBKL should cut rate to lessen the burden of rakyat.

Am I correct?

Top 3 Common Investing Mistakes

When coming to investing, do you wonder why retail investors always lose out? What are the common mistakes they made? In this article, Finance Malaysia blog pointed out the top 3 investing mistakes by retail investors.

The 3 common mistakes:

1. Trying to time the market.
   "Every often, investors thought that they can forecast the short-term direction of share market, or listen to other people (market timers). It's a big mistake. It was like a gamble, guessing the ups and downs. Can you see a gambler become millionaire?"
   
   
2. Being an active trader.
   "Buying blue-chip counters with long-term profits as a goal is the real way of investing. Don't trade actively which can resulting your goal being blurred along the way."
   
   
3. Using those high cost investing tools.
   "Every single penny you saved contributes to the total returns you gained from an investment. Investors should avoid those high charges investing tools to optimise their return. Can you guaranteed the company that charged higher perform better?"

Happy Investing !!!

5 Reasons WHY Employees Left a Company

Understanding your employees thinking nowadays is crucial to retain top talents in your organization. What's the reason behind for them to press the "Resign" button? Detecting it early and replacing it with a "Stay" button before it is too late.

Please be mindful that the generation now is different, their thinking is different, their feeling towards a job is very much different. As such, employers or top management should find out the determining factor of employees going to resign. Let's look at the reasons...

1. Better prospects
   No doubt, this is the most common reason to leave. We can't prevent someone to leave for good, either because of higher pay or better position offered elsewhere. Correct? True or not, some use this just as an excuse, rather than the reason, to resign. He/She may leave because of other reasons listed below...
   
   
2. Lack of Recognition / Respect from top management
   Sometime recognition or respect from bosses treated as an "parameter" to gauge the value of an employee for an organization. For top performers, other than monetary reward, recognition is also important. Respect come from two ways, not only towards top management. Agreed?
   
   
3. Just can't gel with company's culture
   Everyone's belief and culture may determined his/her length of service. You can't stay in a company which the culture is in contrast with yours. Remember, it's 5 days a week, 9 hours a day job. Example, most of your colleagues joining a direct sales company part-time, but you're not and against it. Can you overcome it?
   
   
4. Unfavorable company forecast
   Normally due to merger and acquisition exercise, employees may feel that it's not in their favor to stay. Maybe he/she will be the one being axed out or VSS later. Then, why don't I leave first before being forced to do so?
   
   
   
   
   
5. Imbalance Work-Life situation
   In the end, working is not everything in life, employees evaluate their lifestyle also especially when he/she gets married and having children(s). Where you work and live is also important. Time spent on traffic jam is stressful and time consuming, which may lead to the exit door.
   
   

After knowing all this, employers should be smart enough to examine each and every candidates before hiring them. Questions such as "Where they live?" and "What's their expectation?" must be asked. Happy working.