Malaysian Personal Finance

What did you splurge on this month? Share some of your investments or surprise spending this month!

Let's talk finance. Ask questions, give advice, share tips and tricks!

A lot of financial guru/videos/books/audiobook out there mentioning the first 100k is the hardest and getting to 1m is significantly "easier" after you have this much capital. I'm currently doing my research on what could be the approach to make this happen. Still clueless if I wanted to invest these sum of money into small business opportunities or park them on 3-5% dividend annually.

Serious question to those who already achieve their 7 figure savings, how did you grew your capital ?

So today I made a purchase at Harvey Norman using my credit card. The purchase was RM500+ and I asked them if they do EPP. They said yes and it is at 0% interest rate. So I purchased it with 6 months tenure as they say it is defaulted to that tenure. But today as I checked my credit card transactions, it seems that the amount debited is the full amount of the purchase and not the pro-rated amount. Is this normal?

There is however like an option on the banking app to convert that single transaction into installments. And over here I can pick my length of tenures (with different interest rates). I am using Standard Chartered by the way.

So is that something that I have to do? Does consumer need to manually log into the banking app and choose to convert that purchase into installments? Because if that is the case then it feels pointless asking the sales guy at Harvey Norman to make it into an EPP purchase.

How do I cashout and spend my 8 figure gains from holding crypto legally and safely? Asking for a friend

As a foreigner, is there a way to get a TnG card and top it up by transfer from Wise MYR account?

Can you guys tell me what’s the consensus best health insurance for people over 60? A cursory search online tells me that most policies aren’t offered to anybody over 55.

My dad is currently 59, going on 60 if that helps.

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Hi,

I've been residing in the US for a few years and am planning to return to Malaysia for good. I've accrued some savings (approx. RM 600k) and would like to transfer them to my Malaysian bank account. Will I encounter any issues with the local financial authorities if I were to transfer the entire amount in one go? Otherwise, what would be the best way to go about it? Appreciate the advice.

How to put money for EF - 30% into GX Bank, 3% Rate - 30% into KDI Save, 4% EAR - 40% into ASNB, depends on them.

Any thoughts on making it better? I'm not bumi.

this is the first i encountered HR asking persistently for a payslip. i already mentioned i won’t disclose due to NDA and still asked for me to provide. this is not legal ethics but just to ask how else can i say no to this?

note: they also said they won’t proceed with next steps if i don’t provide payslips from my previous job.

Hello, lurker here.

I need to transfer a mid 7 figure sum from Malaysia to Australia to purchase a property. This money is accumulated over many years including savings, salary, stock trading, inheritance, gift from parents - basically multiple streams.

Anyone have any experience doing this? I am in no rush to transfer everything at once but if I could get this done over the next 6 months that would be great. Question is:

1. If I do RM50k per day via Sunway Money - is this repetitiveness going to trigger suspicious activity?
2. if I do one lump sum transfer I am worried authorities will swoop in and ask for documents from all the years and I just don't have all these documents with me anymore.

Any advice?

HI folks, I'm exploring ideas of moving my family to KL from North state where i'll find new work (hopefully) I know we usually can't choose where we work but if you could choose, which part of KL would you priotize for work? In terms of infrastructure of public transport, services and amenities nearby, surrounding residential options? etc.

Just some background,
I'm late 30s, currently senior manager level in IT , earning about 15k a month. Have a family with young kids (6 and below)

I have a car but i'm not above taking LRT/Buses for commute. In fact i look forward to it cuz being stuck in jam is the absolute worst for me.

Appreciate your thoughts and comments, TIA!

Edited: salary

Generally speaking pretty much every Malaysian will be subject to a 30 percent dividend withholding tax on US stocks as we have no tax treaty with them. Since this is the case would it still be worthwhile to invest in US companies for dividends despite not making the "full amount"?

It's just RM8 if a referee links their duitnow ID (I think both parties get rm8 each). No cap on how many people you can invite. Not really worth bothering people to sign up with unless they already want to IMO

(But lmk if you wanna use my code cause why not LOL)

Over the past few years there are always people here asking about how to invest their emergency funds, and then we reply like:

• Stocks/cryptos are risky, you shouldnt be investing it.
• Don't bother with fixed deposits your $ will be locked up till the term ends.
• Look into some money market funds like stashaway simple, versa etc.

But remember emergency fund imo isn't always just about stability, guarantee of getting back certain $ we put in, instead it's meant for instant access when you need them quickly. Perhaps to pay for hospital deposit, or to fix your cars, or to transfer $ to where you are at when you get snatched/pickpocketed abroad.

So what constitute good emergency funds imo:

For people with short credit history: Fixed deposits. You can roll RM 5000 every 1 month per certificate, or RM 1000 with >= 2 months term per cert. Just make sure you can liquidate it, transfer to an account with ATM access within minutes all from your mobile phone.

Many people thought fixed deposits are locked up and can't be withdrawn until the term ends. That's false, you can set a short term, auto-renewal on, then liquidate them while losing minimal interests.

Cost: Interest paid out is inflation -1%, maybe.

Prerequisites: Have enough cash already.

Credit card limits. You will end up paying hefty cash advance fee + interest if you withdraw cash with it, so use it only when you have to. Most hospitals readily accept credit cards over visa/master networks anyway.

Cost: Nothing.

Prerequisites: You need to earn enough, maintain good credit score over a long period to get meaningful amount of credit card limits.

For travelling: Banknotes, especially USD. I always bring 2x USD 100 in cash for money changers, and some USD 1, 5, 10 banknotes for taxi drivers/service providers in case got any emergencies. They may not be legal tender in most places, but many people will reluctantly accept them if situation calls for it.

Cost: You take on full inflation, plus some currency volatility risk -- but in a way you also hedge against your home currency.

What don't constitute good emergency funds:

Money market funds. Sure their returns are slightly higher than FD, but it usually takes at least 1+ days to withdraw it to cash/current account where you can readily spend. I find StashAway Simple marketing page pretty disingenious when they suggest people to save emergency fund there.

Crypto stablecoins. Low acceptance in general.

Hi everyone. I've sent in my taxes recently and am entitled for a tax refund. On the LHDN my tax website, it says it takes 30 days for the refund to be credited into account, though I haven't received it yet.

This is what it says on the refund status.

2024-04-13| Refund Accepted

2024-05-09 | Refund Processing

2024-05-09 | Refund Approval

2024-05-10 | Refund In Progress | EFT | MALAYAN BANKING BERHAD

It just stops at refund in progress, and has been like that for almost a month.

Is there a problem here? What should I do?

Dear All / Sifu / Otai,

First time posting here.
Basically, this 40k is my emergency fund (10 month salary). Normally after end of month expenses and etc etc, I will have balance between RM500 - 1000 leftover for hobby / movie / eat out.

So do I renew this 40k FD at 4% (MBSB) or put into EPF or buy dividend stocks (MBB/PBB/AMBANK) ?
Of cos liquidity vs risk vs ROI comes into play.

Any recommendations or options?
TQ in advance.

-Non Bumi-

My cousin is applying for a study loan and have asked me to be his joint applicant - for context, both his parents are over 65 and he doesn’t have siblings that meet the income threshold.

The loan says joint applicant has to be immediate family members so are cousins considered in this case? How does the bank prove we’re related? On top of that, what are the repercussions on me being a joint applicant to his loan? I don’t have any financial commitments at the moment but will be looking into purchasing a house within the next three years, hopefully!

Edited: to say that he’s applying for a study loan

How does one start without any formal finance/economy education?
(I'm from engineering background)
I want to learn how to understand and form an educated opinion/basis about the economy.
I've been watching videos from news outlet, finance channel but still not entering my brain.
Is it just for smart people?

So, passed the interview stage and now next stage is to talk with HR. But now they are requesting for 2 referee (managerial) position. Would you provide your referee details to the new company after seeking consent?

What if you do not have consent from your managers? As you plan to leave anyways,isn't it best to keep these hidden from them?

How would you reject the request?

So we have reach the end of May and entering first day of month. Some of you maybe heard about AEON Bank and today we should get profit from AEON Bank. Is the profit calculation correct?

I have calculated using: Balance×((3.88/100)/366)=Profit for a day

The result is 100% correct. It didn't give the specific cent number but it's correct. I should get RM 0.21 this month. AEON Bank calculation is correct and can be trusted so if you want to get profit while it's higher at this time you can register for it 🤭 Or if you prefer daily interest use GX Bank. If you're Muslim it's up to you to use conventional bank 😬

Will try and keep it short. I was recently presented with a new insurance plan from my agent, and supposedly it is to insure one’s earning capabilities as a wage earner, in case of a mishap. Here are the details summarised:

• premium is 1000 or 1500 monthly (12k or 18k per annum)
• payout is in lump sum, either 500k (1000) or 1 million (1500)
• payment lasts for 20 years, upon that no additional premium is required. Matures at the age of 80
• upon the 20 year mark, you can get the full cash value of the premium that you have been paying. Optional to let it sit in the account and accrue interests as well, though the rates aren’t too attractive
• criteria for the payout would be loss of life, TBD or critical illness

Some information about me. I’m currently at the age of 30, monthly wage is 13k (roughly 10k after deductions). Essentially the plan would be up to 10-15% of what I take home. No commitments as of now but looking to purchase my first property in a year or two. My main concern at this way point, would be losing the ability to make the monthly repayments for the mortgage, thus troubling my family members. However, I did hear that this is considered as term life protection and can be used in lieu of MR/MLTA as well, still researching more about this.

Would like to hear from other perspectives and gather more opinions, any feedbacks are greatly appreciated. Thank you!

Having grown up in a landed house but now staying in a condo, I have been contemplating purchasing my own double storey house but I hear of commonly raised issues such as house leakage, house maintenance (need to maintain yourself rather than a condo which includes a mgmt overseeing body), inconsiderate neighbors, need to reno, cost of maintenance, etc etc.

From my perspective, these are not unique to landed houses as the same could also be said for strata residential properties.

For the sake of staying informed, what considerations should I note about owning a landed double story house? If it is relevant, the areas I would be looking at are PJ / Damansara.

One thing in my personal experience is that landed house is so freaking hot 🥵 compared to condo (may be because condo has less surfaces that are in direct contact with the sun / ground or due to the orientation of my family house).

Just as the title says. Am trying to find a trusted platform to receive, I tried using Luno but they dont't allow for USDT TRC20 in Malaysia.

I'm was wondering what are the truth about how it really works in Malaysia. Like the tax, the money, the career, the gov, or anything.

For me, I always thought the inflation is just 3% on average, but when it comes to buying house, lifestyle expenses, the real amount of inflation is more higher than what I expected.