Weekly Personal Finance Summary - Sept 12 2018

From Our Site

Best Financial Options For Expats In Malaysia
There’s so many things to have to do when you’re planning or if you are already here in Malaysia. And if you’re not careful, you will be taken advantage of and end up signing up for services that are subpar.

This article will go through the best options for services such as cell plan, internet plans (also known as broadband plans), the best way to transfer money in and out, and of course, subscriptions (Spotify is much cheaper here).

From Traditional Media

47% of youths have high credit card debts
Not only do 47% of youths have high credit card debt, but 38% of them also have personal loans.

This statistic is very frightening, not because of the money owed, but because of the amount of stress that these people take on worrying about this.

So my question is why? Why do you think this is happening? What are they spending this money on? Please share on the Facebook group and let’s look at potential solutions together.

From Local Bloggers

7 Proper Ways to Manage your Credit Card
Credit cards are very important to have and use because it’s the best way for you to quickly build up a high credit rating to get loans in the future. However it is also dangerous because it can get out of hand within a month. That said, here are 7 ways to manage your credit card:

• Pay your credit card bills on time!
  Even if you cannot pay for the whole amount, always make sure to pay as much as you can!
• Make a budget for your credit card spending
  If you don’t, you could somehow end up spending a lot more than you initially thought and that would be a big problem
• Keep your credit history clean
  More important once you’re comfortable using credit cards without overspending.
• Being aware of your credit card’s outstanding amount
  If you cannot pay off your credit card each month, be aware of the outstanding limit and that it is constantly going down over time
• Making sure your credit utilisation isn’t at its limit
  Try to not use more than 30% of your maximum amount because this actually plays a role in determining your credit score
• Get the right credit card
  For most people, the right card is always going to be free. Once you check off that criteria, then look at the different cash back or points that the card can offer
• Never spend more than you earn
  It’s been alluded to a few times here but never spend more than you earn because there is no way for you to pay it off. The only time this is okay is if you’ve already been saving up for this purchase.

10 Things Successful Investors Don’t Do
Here’s a great tip in life: if you want to be as successful as a group of people (whether that’s in sports, work, or money), look at what they spend their time doing. But more importantly, what they don’t do. That way you can get on the shortcut to success without falling into the ditches along the way.

With that said, here are 10 things successful investors don’t do:

• THEY DO NOT do their due diligence via Internet forums
  It’s important to do your own research but never use forums as a main source. Instead, talk to people who are experts in that area.
• THEY DO NOT think of exit strategies at the later stage (after they’ve invested)
  These people always have a back up plan for different scenarios that may happen.
• THEY DO NOT fixate on price but understand the importance of value
  A great rule to life. Never get so focused on the price of an asset that you forget what the underlying value is.
• THEY DO NOT neglect the importance of their financial credibility
• THEY DO NOT wait for the right time to buy
  Successful property investors don’t try to time the markets. They know there isn’t a “right” time to do anything. Of course, they also buy into things over the course of time.
• THEY DO NOT make decisions emotionally
  They seldom let common perceptions influence their purchase decisions.
• THEY DO NOT speculate
  Rather than following the trends, successful investors follow a time-proven strategy that they repeat again and again, recognising that you can’t become an expert by doing one hundred things at once.
• THEY DO NOT sit and wait for good deals. They create deals
  The best way to create deals is to constantly learn. They invest a lot of time on their money which goes in line with a very famous quote from Warren Buffet – “The rich invest in time; the poor invest in money”.
• THEY DO NOT ignore problems
  Successful people confront problems as soon as possible.
• THEY DO NOT “hunt” alone
  Successful investors know that if they’re the smartest person on their team, then they’re in trouble. So, they surround themselves with other like-minded people, are prepared to pay good advisers, and have mentors who inspire and motivate them and keep them accountable.

Which of these traits do you already do? Which ones are you going to do more of? Let us know in Facebook group

Under Construction vs Sub Sale Properties
Have you ever wondered which one of these are better? This article does a great job breaking down the things you should consider. We’ll just give a high level overview.

• The amount of money you have to pay up front
  You will most likely put down less for a place under construction than a sub sale
• The cost per square foot
  Sub sale is most likely going to be cheaper than under construction
• What you’re actually buying
  You know what you’ll get in a sub sale, but you can only hope that the place under construction is going to look like what it does in the brochures
• If you want tenants
  So will a good percentage of everyone else who bought into the under construction units and so when it’s done, there will suddenly be 100s of units available. How will you win over the tenant?
• If you’re planning to flip
  It’s a dangerous game and this article has a great example of how a bad scenario could play out
• Room for Negotiation
  As a buyer, if you want to negotiate the price, you probably won’t be able to do so with a building under construction unless you’re buying a few units (or even a few dozen units). But you can negotiate with the seller in a sub sale.
• Buying Your Next Property …
  You will be able to buy your next property a lot easier and faster by buying a sub sale property

There was definitely a lot of great information in this article so if you’re into real estate investments, I highly suggest you read this from top to bottom.

(image from shutterstock)

Ideas Around The World

35 Mini-Missions To Improve Your Life and Money! ✨
I won’t put them all here, but a few good ones are:
Day #1: Opt out of buying 1 thing
Day #5: Get rid of something you never wear!
Day #13: Unsubscribe from all those store emails!
Day #14: Hide a $20 bill in your car in case you need one day
Day #19: See if you are owed any missing money

Al in all, many of these are life focused (and great mini missions) so if you want some actionable steps for improving your life, definitely go through this!

Spending rate versus saving rate
Here’s an interesting idea: “Saving rate” in the world of personal finance is the same as profit in the world of business.
But that’s not the only interesting idea. Here’s another: having a goal of getting out of debt is not a good goal. Instead of focusing of getting out of debt, you should focus on increasing your income and cut your spending. Then your debt will naturally fall. In other words, getting into or out of debt is a byproduct of how much you earn and how much you spend.
In other words, “If you want to save more, you can’t tell yourself, “This month, I’m going to focus on setting aside 10% instead of 5%.” In order for your saving to increase, you have to adjust your spending (or your income). To set aside 10%, you need to spend 90% of your income instead of 95%.”

Cool Opportunities

BigPay – The Best Travel Credit Card for Malaysians?
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All you have to do is download the app (andriod) (iOS) and if you need a referral code (to get RM 10 for signing up), you can use B7D3YNZPGOa