A personal sharing session conducted with my colleagues on how to manage their personal finances and begin their investing journey.
Disclaimer: I'm not a financial planner by profession, just sharing from my own personal journey, lessons, experiences.
2. TABLE OFCONTENTS
INTRO&CAVEATS
Why each journey is
personal
01
WhyInvest?
Debunking myths
and general
principles
02
Gettingstarted
Basic asset classes
and starting your
portfolio
03
Discussion
Open sharing &
learning with each
other
04
4. LEARNING TO ACCEPT/DEAL WITH
OURLOTINLIFE
PRIVILEGE
Family background,
Inheritance, Education
etc.
THEWAYTHINGSARE
Political perks,
Vocational value,
Market prices
LIFE’SCURVEBALLS
By no fault of our own,
life deals us shitty
cards
5. God, grant me the serenity to
accept the things I cannot change,
the courage to change the things I
can, and the wisdom to know the
difference.
Theserenity prayer
Happinessisablend ofacceptance,contentment,andcarpediem.
ReinholdNiebuhr
1892 - 1971
“
”
9. ourvalue ofmoney isgetting smaller
It is challenging for
salaries to keep up
with inflation & cost of
living.
Purchasing Pricing
Parity in Malaysia is in
decline.
12. Which‘dad’ are you?
• Earn salary and spend.
• Car loans, taxes, credit card bills creep in
over time – high expenses.
• Enter a life of debt.
• Constantly needing to refinance.
• Getting impossible to save.
• Earn salary – set aside funds.
• Prudent with spending. Controlling
expenses.
• Mixed portfolio of savings and investment
• Goals: generate passive income
• Goals: acquiring assets
• Resisting debt.
13. Habits ofthe“rich”
• Work hard for their primary income
• Work towards growing additional income
streams
• They acquire assets
• Control & minimize expenses
• Reduce liabilities
• They are motivated to see their money
grow
16. KEYTAKEAWAYS: PRINCIPLES
Discipline DESIRE INSTINCT
“I really need to
tahan and just set
this RM200 aside”
“Ooo, not bad. Managed to save
RM1,000 already. Oklar, campak
another RM100 this month.”
“By now, probably got RM5,000 in
the bank di, can put into FD or buy
that CIMB stock.”
19. BUT Beforeyou invest,you
needcapital (seedmoney)
• Monitor your salary & expenses for 3 months
• Find the average & record a baseline
• Determine your net cash flow
(income – expenses)
• Set aside money when you get your salary
every month (not spend the leftovers)
21. Fixeddeposits
Google “Best FD Promotions 2020”
Things to look out for:
• Minimum deposit
• Tenure (1m, 6m, 12m, 24m) *liquidity is
important
• Effective Interest rate.
• 2019 average was 3.15% (2020 anything
above 2.5% considered good).
• Fine print
Pro-tip:
• Open many FD accounts, don’t put all
eggs in one basket.
• Some 6 months, some 3 months etc.
• 1-month rolling is still better than
conventional savings acct.
22. How muchcashshould you have
beforeyou start investing?
4-6 months
float: salary
worth of cash
(Savings, FD +
Emergency)
+
Positive net
cash flow of at
least 10-20% of
salary
24. GETTING STARTED: STOCKS (Shares)
1. When you buy stocks, you’re buying a piece
of ownership (equity) of the company.
2. You can only buy stocks of companies listed
on the Malaysian stock exchange (Bursa
Malaysia)
3. There are 2 ways to make money in stocks:
a) Capital gains in share price * You buy at
RM2,000 and sell at RM3,000 = profit
RM1,000
b) Dividends: Company gives you a
percentage of their profit. Can be annual/
biennial/ quarterly declarations
25. Howtochoose?
1. Only companies that have profits will give
dividends.
2. Look for blue chip companies that you
personally hold in high reputation.
3. General things to look for:
a) Are they making profits?
b) Do they have stable leadership?
c) Is their industry stable or facing market
challenges?
4. Technical details that can help:
a) dividend yield anything higher than FD is
good, higher better
b) earnings per share (EPS) compare
c) PE ratio (price earning) low means good
value, high means high growth expectations
27. HOWTOBUY
1. Sign up for a CDS trading account. Most
banks have.
2. You have to buy shares in “lots”. In
Malaysia, one lot is 100 shares.
3. So, if share price of Maybank is RM8.08 –
one lot is RM808.
4. Pro-Tip: Dollar Cost Averaging (DCA)
over Lump-Sum Investing (LSI)
29. PROPERTY
1. Should I buy or rent?
2. Buy to stay or Buy to Rent?
3. To stay: Start small. Only buy if you can
maintain the loans. Ask friends for real-
estate contacts to get into deals early.
Look for attractive offers (no booking fee,
free legal etc.)
4. To rent: Location, location, location.
Check the rental market, is it worth the
price you’re paying for it? Potential of the
vicinity (development/ accessibility plans)
5. House prices have not declined, merely
plateaued. It might never come down.
31. Takeaways
1. Setting aside is the most important
discipline. Most wealth is simply by
saving over spending and accumulation.
2. Look out for opportunities that will give
you an edge (Bumiputera privileges ,
discounts/ promo, connections)
3. Keep track. Use an expense app. Excel
for your bank accts and asset tracking.
4. #KeepingItBalanced. Money is not
everything, make sure you use it to keep
you happy too.
Money is worthless. What is of value is what you
exchange it for. So, “Splurge on the things that
money can’t buy.”