Today im gonna write about financial, money. A topic that
really relevant, and it is related to our life every day. We need for foods,
paying our utility bills, and to survive. Students sometimes spend their money mostly
on their assignments a lot rather than their meals.
When we have money, we tend to spend it on ridiculous items.
We achieve satisfaction and feel happy when we spend our penny, especially when
our way of spending match our personality.
It’s okay if you do that with your own money. But it will
turn into a problem when we start take a debt to go shopping and finance our
lifestyle.
Saving vs investing
When I was in the primary school, I am a saving person.
Usually my parent give me RM1 to buy meals during recess time. I attended
Primary School and Sekolah Agama (Muslim students attend religion class at
Johor. It is not compulsory but most parents do send their children here.), so I
got RM2 per day. But most of the time I save my money by not spending it.
Why I am not spend them? Well when I was a kid I was a
cerewet person. I am only eat meals that’s taste delicious in my opinion.
Furthermore I don’t like the meals served at the school, they look
unattractive, cold and tasteless.
So, I ask my mom to prepare for me bekal makanan from home.
I can still remember my mother prepared for me egg sandwiches, chicken nugget
and bingka roti. After sometimes, I felt bored because there was no variety in
menu, but still they taste delicious, better than canteen-served meals. Oh
yeah, I am also concern about level of hygiene of the foods served at the
canteen, as there was many flies around.
The money I received from my parents I put in the special
container. All money that I received from my relatives, aunts, uncle I put also
in the container, including those duit raya.
So far my story was going well.
My major mistake is I don’t have any plan with my saving. I don’t
put them either at any investment trust such as Tabung Haji or ASB, or at least
save them at saving account at the bank.
I end up use those saving to pleasure my short-term needs. I
used my saving to buy toys, such as Gundam, Bakugan, B-Daman, and Hot Wheels.
Just name any popular toys that came out at 2000s, I had invest my money on
them. To make things become worse, I also used my savings to buy PS1 and PS2
CDs and DVDs.
I realised that if I start save my money in those investment
trust, at least I will gain dividends every year. My money also would not be
easily spent, as I can’t access to my saving easily, which would lead to unnecessary
spending.
Now I have to start from scratch. But I realised that before
you can invest your surplus money, you need to have saving first.
Financial Freedom
Financial freedom can be defined as a situation where your
assets generate income, and it is higher than your expenses. You don’t have to
work actively for your basic necessities. A person might also achieve financial
freedom when finish paying for their debt.
I realised that my investment portfolio would be higher if I
started invest earlier. I would achieve financial freedom earlier too.
My personal opinion is it is better for every person to
achieve financial freedom earlier. It is suck when you work for paying the
utilities bills, debt and other obligations. For me it feels like you become a
slave for your whole life. Instead of you work for the money, why don’t money
works for you?
Budgeting your money
To achieve financial freedom means you have agreed to strive
hard and make a lot of scarification. Before
you have money to be invested, first you need to have your own savings. But the
most ultimatum thing is you need to change your lifestyle first.
Every expenses has to be justified first. Any expenses that
unnecessities should be excluded. You also need to prepare your own cash flow budget.
Make sure money inflow in your account exceed the outflow.
If you target to have RM100,000 in your investment account
in 10 years more for example, you need to set a realistic and achievable
targeted saving annually. If you target to save RM10000 annually for example,
you should ensure you achieve your monthly target.
Those statements sound difficult to be achieved. Yes it is
look impossible, but actually attainable. It requires hard work, determination
and commitment over the years.
Where to invest?
Well there are many investment trust and platforms to be
invested, but I’m gonna write about the common ones, Tabung Haji and AHB.
1.
Tabung Haji
Tabung Haji is synonym with
Muslims who performed pilgrims at Mekah. It is a regulatory body that supervises
and handles thousands of Jemaah Haji from Malaysia every years.Tabung Haji also
actively investing in business and property development project.
I don’t remember how much money
needed initially to open the account. But what I certainly confident is the dividend
is quite high, around 7 to 9 percent per year.
Tabung Haji also can be linked
with your other bank accounts. It is easier nowadays to transfer money from
your dominant bank account to your Tabung Haji account.
But the bad point is it
is also easier for you to use money saved in Tabung Haji account.
2.
Amanah Hartanah Berhad(AHB)
AHB is a new investment portfolio, as it is
just launched few years back. Unit per share is sold at RM1, but initial minimum
purchase is 100 units, minimum subsequent subscription is 50 units.
AHB requires the subscriber to own or have
a Maybank saving account. If you don’t have yet the account, you are required
to open the account with minimum opening account RM250.
Dividend is given at interim and final year
basis. Last year the dividend recorded is 6.50 cent per share.
I have my own target. I want to achieve financial freedom by
the age of 38-45. I predicted that by that age, I has no commitment to pay
debt.
I have about 20 years more to achieve the target. Theoretically
speaking, the target is achievable. But again we are dealing with major
uncertainties here. 20 years is a long
journey to be faced. But nothing is
impossible.
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May you achieve your target
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