The Best Personal Finance Summaries (for Malaysians) - 31 March 2020
As we mentioned in our special message to you over the weekend, we are looking for ways to help you improve your financial situation, and the MCO further amplifies the need to do so.
The best opportunity we can help you make extra money is by referring people who need to buy car insurance to this page.
We will give you 5% of their car insurance premium if they leave your email address under 'email of your friend'.
Ask your family / friends / relatives if they can support you during this time (and get a better deal for car insurance themselves!)
Ask your family / friends / relatives if they can support you during this time (and get a better deal for car insurance themselves!)
The other way to make some extra money is to join the RM500 giveaway we are holding.
The first winner will be announced in:
Get started here. (or go to the bottom of this newsletter).
Remember, this MCO can be an event that will accelerate your future success. Or it won't. The current pain won't change but you do have the option to choose your future.
From Us
[VIDEO] Book Summary: Invested
Ready to create a wishlist of companies to buy on sale?
If value investing sounds like something you want to learn to do, then Invested is the book you will want to read.
[VIDEO] Everything you need to know about car insurance
[VIDEO] Different Types of Investing
[VIDEO] Free Financial Advice During MCO
Money in Daily Life
3 Ways To Minimize Financial Impact During This Difficult Time
The Covid-19 pandemic has left us feeling afraid and dreading what the future may bring. In this situation, specific financial steps should be taken to ensure the continuation of our way of life.
MyPF in their recent post, shared a few steps which could be useful to cushion the financial impacts during the unexpected world pandemic with their readers:
#1 – Emergency Funding
First, it is crucial to have a ready fund, or namely emergency funding. For the rule of thumb, it is recommended to save at least 6 months of monthly expenses or gross income (just to be safe). Emergency funds should be liquid (or near liquid) and kept in a high dividend-yielding account so that you can save the most and access it fast if intended. For business owners, business emergency funds should be at least 6 months of operational expenditure.
#2 – Review your Budget
Review, evaluate and look for ways to reduce your budget and expenses. Remove the unnecessary expenditure from your list. When an emergency happens, make sure that you stick to your budget strictly and do not overspend.
#3 – Having Protection
Having a protection plan (insurance) is helpful to prepare for an emergency too. For instance, a hospital income benefit coverage can cover your medical bills during an unfortunate event, and the Employment Insurance Scheme (EIS) under SOSCO or similar employee plan can protect you against loss of income.
What about my investments?
Generally speaking, your investments should be medium- to long-term - market changes should not affect your portfolio that much as long as your portfolio is strategically allocated. However, in times of emergency:
- Invest regularly. In the long term, the market will always recover, and there are a lot of excellent opportunities.
- Keep invested if you have done proper asset allocation.
- Lower your exposure. Opt for a lower risk profile in your strategy.
- Realize your losses.
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Grow Your Wealth
With U.S. and international stocks in flux thanks to the coronavirus pandemic, it’s easy to assume that investing your money right now isn’t the brightest idea.
While the market has been showing signs of recession, there lie substantial opportunities for brave investors. In a recent post, Alex Gailey from The Simple Dollar has shed some light on investing during this uncertain time.
Investing during the coronavirus pandemic recession
Financial experts mention recessions can be a great timing (or even once-in-a-lifetime) to start long-term investing. Also, people should always have an investment policy that they follow in good times and bad, and continually invest no matter the market conditions.
Why it’s important to diversify your investments
Diversification can be used to reduce financial risks. As investments are spread across different assets, the risk of investments dropping in the long term can be lowered. For instance, consider allocating money in a 401 (k) plan or individual retirement account (IRA) asides from investing in stocks or bonds solely.
Make a plan for your money to grow over time
There’s no minimum dollar amount to begin investing. Instead of pondering on the amount needed to kick start your investing, set your retirement goal and start from that. Take 10% of your pay and invest consistently to reap the benefits of compounding. Remember, the younger you start, the better off you’ll be!
The ’20-Slot Rule’ Buffett Taught College Students to Get Extremely Rich
Do you find that some successful people made a couple of choices in their lives that turned out to be the best decisions in their life? It is sort of like a golden opportunity to prepare.
In an interesting post by KC Lau himself from the KCLau.com, he shared about his observations and experiences on wealth accumulation.
How Successful People Make only A Handful of Smart Choices that Make Immense Wealth
In life, significant decisions and pivotal moments mostly make us what we are today. The journey of Elon Musk becoming a technopreneur and the author’s experience are used to explain his point.
The ’20-Slot Rule’ Buffett Taught College Students to Get Extremely Rich
For KC Lau, one of the defining advice he has discovered during his investing journey was the ’20-Slot Role’ advocated by Warren Buffett. As quoted by the famous billionaire, “Improve your ultimate financial welfare by giving you a ticket with only 20 slots in it so that you had 20 punches — representing all the investments that you got to make in a lifetime.”
When is the “Best Time” to Make Huge Investment without Timing the Market?
Then, the author explained that the best time to punch a hole as in the ’20-Slot Rule’ is the dips. The dips can be the 2002 dot-com crash, 2008 subprime crisis or even now – the Covid-19 pandemic.
How to Overcome Your Fear While The Bottom is Still Unseen
Understandably, most people will remain sceptical or even scared when the market tumbled. However, human beings will always come back, and life will resume. Superb businesses will be at a cheap sale and deep discount, it is the perfect chance to get into the stock market.
When is the bottom?
It is hard to predict the bottom of the market itself. However, the author is sure that the business will go back to usual once the pandemic has settled down. Therefore, one should set aside sufficient money for emergencies, money for essential needs and invest some money so that you won’t feel regret when the market rises when the pandemic is over!
Understanding ETFs – A Basic Guide
Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) are pretty simple actually. By the end of this guide, you’ll learn everything that you need to know about them.
What is an ETF and How Does it Work?
An Exchange Traded Fund (ETF) is very similar to an index fund – which tracks different markets, indexes or sectors. ETF allows you to make diversified investments (stocks, bonds, currencies and real estate). Different from index funds, they are traded on a stock exchange. They are cheaper than mutual funds too.
The Benefits and Drawbacks of an ETF
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Diversification. You own a basket of stocks via ETF. | Costs. The fees for brokerage and commission can be expensive. |
| Transparency. ETF publishes its holdings at the end of each day. | Liquidity. Some ETFs are thinly traded. |
| Convenience and Time. ETFs are traded on exchanges, and transactions can be done when the markets are open. | Too Much Activity. Active trading can rack up trading fees and taxes. |
| Strategies. Short sell, intraday-trade or margin trade are possible. | - |
| Costs and Charges. Lower than actively managed mutual funds. | - |
| No Minimum Investments. You just have to be able to buy them on exchanges. | - |
How and Where to Buy or Sell ETFs?
To invest in ETFs, you can do it through 401(k), Roth IRA or brokerage accounts. However, ETFs might not be offered in some retirement accounts. Therefore, consider to invest in ETFs via brokerage accounts because the steps are simple:
- Go to the brokerage website.
- Click on the ‘Open An Account’.
- Apply for an ‘Individual Brokerage Account’.
- Fill in all the relevant information about yourself.
- Transfer an initial deposit if needed.
- Sit back and wait (should take 3 to 7 days).
- The broker will contact you once your account is approved.
Different Types of ETFs to Consider
- Broad Market ETFs. They track the entire US, global and specific regional market. Most of them are passive and have lower costs.
- Industry-specific ETFs. They track securities in one sector (technology, automobile, and so on).
- Dividend ETFs. They focus on high and consistent dividend-paying stocks.
- Bond ETFs. Bonds can lower the risk of your portfolio – bond returns are high when the stock returns tumble.
- Commodity ETFs. Investing in the commodity can diversify your portfolio. They invest in derivative contracts backed by the physical commodity.
- Currency ETFs. Simply, they are based on foreign exchange trading.
- Real Estate ETFs. They invest in Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) and real estate companies.
Ways to Qualify for the Giveaway
Here are some ways you can qualify for our giveaway happening in
Here's the full list of the ways you can qualify for the giveaway.
Compare the different car insurance providers from one site
Is your car insurance coming up for renewal soon? If so, make sure you check if there are better deals that other car insurance providers are willing to give you by comparing them all at once.
The best part is you can customize what it is you want and have your quotes in real time.
Oh and your No Claim Discount will carry over to the new provider as well.
Check it out today and start saving!
A way for females to get free insurance
We were talking to our super humble financial advisor friend one day and she started talking about some insurance product for females that provides coverage for all these female related illnesses. But more importantly, the contract also states that all the premiums will be returned at the end of the contract.
Seriously something for all females to consider!
Learn how you can be paying 50% less for medical insurance
We had to interview an expert insurance agent who told us ways that we could be reducing our premiums by 50%+ by following these few tricks. Take a watch and qualify for the giveaway after answering a few questions to prove that you had watched the interview.
Figure out investing in 30 minutes and never deal with it again
Truly investing on autopilot. By signing up for Stashaway, you will literally be able to have it automate your investing. Plus with the super low fees, your path to success just got a lot easier.
You can start with any amount as there are no deposit or withdrawal fees!
Plus get the fees even lower by signing up for Stashaway through us*!
Figure out investing in 30 minutes and never deal with it again (halal version)
Truly investing on autopilot (halal version). By signing up for Wahed Invest, you will literally be able to have it automate your investing. Plus with the super low fees, your path to success just got a lot easier.
You can start with as little as RM100 and there are no deposit or withdrawal fees.
Plus get RM40 from Wahed Invest for signing up through us and funding your account by RM100.
For those interested in reading our previous newsletters