Here are 5 tips you can use to help improve your personal financial situation and save more money:
1. Pay Yourself Weekly
On a weekly basis, pay yourself $25-$50 and immediately put it in a safe place. You can even open a special savings account to help minimize or eliminate impulsive spending. Think about it this way, if you paid yourself $25 a week, in two years you'll have accumulated $2600 (not including interest)!!!
2. Don't Shop
Start using the "Need or Want" strategy. Before you spend a single dollar on anything, ask yourself, "Do I really NEED this item, or do I just WANT it??" You may find that many of the items we purchase, we do so just because it "caught our eye" or it was "an impulse buy". All these excuses just add up to wasteful spending.
3. Track Your Spending
Take the time to track your spending habits for one week. Take note of every single dollar you spend, even those sweet and candy bars purchased here and there. This will give you exact view of where your money is being spent, thus allowing you to refine your spending habits to essentially save more money.
4. Use Your Debit Card Instead of Credit Cards
For the most part, debit cards are accepted anywhere a credit card is accepted, however as you know, with a debit card the amount is taken directly from your checking account whereas credit card usage is billed at a later date.
5. Avoid Getting Too Many Credit Cards
Why have 8 credit cards? That's just going to provide you with more opportunities to go further into debt. It's fine to keep 1-3 cards to build credit, establish yourself, and for emergencies, but credit cards are double-edged swords. They can help or hurt you depending on your self-control.
To be continued...
Friday, September 28, 2007
Thursday, September 27, 2007
Malaysian's Financial Issues
I agree with what is actually going on in our country. Most of us spend more than what we can afford.
Everything in Malaysia is expensive. For example, the cheapest car 600cc Kancil is about RM25, 000 while a similar car in the US is only US$8,000. The Government always says that the cost of petrol! But a full tank for a 1,800cc car only costs US$35 while for a similar car in Malaysia it is RM80.
High-speed Internet Streamyx at the lowest speed cost RM50 while it is only US$30 for 1.5Mbps.
A laptop, which costs about US$800, is sold at RM2, 000 in Malaysia.
The average price of a house in the US is about US$250,000 for a 1,700 sq ft bungalow compared to RM200, 000 for a 1,200 sq ft terrace house in Malaysia.
With all this debt and burden, how can you expect Malaysians to retire at 55? In most households, the husband and wife have to work so that they can support their family.
Honestly, I think it's very true that Malaysia has so many Stupid taxes and so on. I tried to point out that many Malaysians always convert and that is why they say the UK is expensive. In fact, the cost of living is much cheaper than in Malaysia.
One good example is Singapore.
Singaporeans (average) earns around S$3000 to S$4000 and nearly everything is half the price of Malaysia, e.g. clothes, computer parts, electronics, etc. But the average Malaysian still earns RM$2000 plus and goods are double the price of Singapore.
How difficult it is to survive in Malaysia depends on your lifestyle. Obviously if you're a clubber you spend more money than those who are not. If you're a gamer who wants the best in computer hardware, it would also cost you a bomb. If you can't fit your lifestyle into what you can afford, it doesn't matter where you live, you'll have a hard time of surviving.
For me, it's still easy to survive in Malaysia since there's no war, no natural disasters, imagine you are Iraqi or Palestinian; you lived in fear even though you are rich. But it's no doubt it's hard to live a comfortable and basic luxurious life in Malaysia and you can't compare Malaysia with western country, the industrial revolution started way back even before Malaysia gain the independence.
While Singapore is located in a VERY strategic location between the shipping trading between the east and west, the money they get from the shipping industry is enough to overtake the income we earn from our natural resources, plus their country is small, there's no need to allocate government monies to several different states like we do, the people are hard working, they got lots of successful recipe. But we are still under development; Malaysia is not even 100 years old yet, so give it some time, work hard, so our kids won't complaint. Haha...
To be continued...
Everything in Malaysia is expensive. For example, the cheapest car 600cc Kancil is about RM25, 000 while a similar car in the US is only US$8,000. The Government always says that the cost of petrol! But a full tank for a 1,800cc car only costs US$35 while for a similar car in Malaysia it is RM80.
High-speed Internet Streamyx at the lowest speed cost RM50 while it is only US$30 for 1.5Mbps.
A laptop, which costs about US$800, is sold at RM2, 000 in Malaysia.
The average price of a house in the US is about US$250,000 for a 1,700 sq ft bungalow compared to RM200, 000 for a 1,200 sq ft terrace house in Malaysia.
With all this debt and burden, how can you expect Malaysians to retire at 55? In most households, the husband and wife have to work so that they can support their family.
Honestly, I think it's very true that Malaysia has so many Stupid taxes and so on. I tried to point out that many Malaysians always convert and that is why they say the UK is expensive. In fact, the cost of living is much cheaper than in Malaysia.
One good example is Singapore.
Singaporeans (average) earns around S$3000 to S$4000 and nearly everything is half the price of Malaysia, e.g. clothes, computer parts, electronics, etc. But the average Malaysian still earns RM$2000 plus and goods are double the price of Singapore.
How difficult it is to survive in Malaysia depends on your lifestyle. Obviously if you're a clubber you spend more money than those who are not. If you're a gamer who wants the best in computer hardware, it would also cost you a bomb. If you can't fit your lifestyle into what you can afford, it doesn't matter where you live, you'll have a hard time of surviving.
For me, it's still easy to survive in Malaysia since there's no war, no natural disasters, imagine you are Iraqi or Palestinian; you lived in fear even though you are rich. But it's no doubt it's hard to live a comfortable and basic luxurious life in Malaysia and you can't compare Malaysia with western country, the industrial revolution started way back even before Malaysia gain the independence.
While Singapore is located in a VERY strategic location between the shipping trading between the east and west, the money they get from the shipping industry is enough to overtake the income we earn from our natural resources, plus their country is small, there's no need to allocate government monies to several different states like we do, the people are hard working, they got lots of successful recipe. But we are still under development; Malaysia is not even 100 years old yet, so give it some time, work hard, so our kids won't complaint. Haha...
To be continued...
Friday, September 21, 2007
Star Property Fair
Fantastic deals at property fair
The 3-day Star Property & Home Fair 2007 will be held at the Penang International Sports Arena (PISA) in Penang from Sept 21-23.
I heard that it may be the biggest one-stop property, home and lifestyle exhibitions in the northern region, The Star Property & Home Fair 2007 is certainly an event not to be missed.
For your info, SunTech project 95% sold Penang's first purpose-built MSC office building, SunTech Penang Cyber-City in Bayan Baru, which is scheduled for completion by year-end, has achieved 95% in sales. It's a great achievement !!!
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