MONEY MASTER

Have you ever wonder if you could ever got yourself a place you could call your own...a place call home? If you have this dream of owning a home and finding it difficult to believe you can achieve it, you're absolutely normal, given the current economy in our country. But like many, it's possible to save for your home downpayment. Some of you may opt to withdraw from your Employees Provident Fund (EPF) account number 2 to fund your house downpayment, but EPF is your retirement savings and you should really consider the possibility of it not being enough. For example, a property selling at RM400,000 with 90% loan comes with a down payment of RM40,000 (10%) and an additional of about RM20,000 in fees and charges. This would approximately come up to an initial payment of RM60,000 in cash. It may seem overwhelming to save up that much, but by drawing a strict and realistic savings plan for this purpose , you will be able to afford your first home in no time. ...

A lot of us think that financial planning is difficult, and thus relying on financial planners to plan on our behalf, but financial planning is something that is different from one individual to another individual depending on age, risk tolerance, plans and many more; thus relying on financial planners who usually have certain templates of financial plans for financial planning is one of the costliest financial planning mistakes that one should avoid - although getting the advice from financial planners as reference is strongly advisable. The next costly financial planning that one should avoid is to treat retirement fund like EPF in Malaysia or CPF in Singapore as savings. I come across many who told me that they do have savings and give the example like EPF which is a financial planning blunder. Retirement fund should be treated as the fund for retirement (as the name already suggested), and one should somehow allocate a portion of the income as savings for rainy days. IF thi...