MONEY MASTER

After a long wait, finally the EPF announced the dividend for the year 2011 and it comes to many surprises at 6% as global economy is too volatile throughout the whole year. Anyway, it is a good news to majority Malaysians as the payout is slightly 0.2% higher than the year before. PETALING JAYA: The Employees Provident Fund (EPF) Board has declared a dividend of 6% for 2011 the highest in the last 10 years. In a statement yesterday, EPF said the dividend, an increase of 20 basis points over the 5.8% paid out in 2010, translates to RM24.47bil being distributed to its members. “2011 marks another commendable achievement for the EPF. “Despite the challenging investment landscape, it was the strongest performance since 2001 that affirms our long term and prudent investment strategy combined with continuous efforts by our investment team,” said EPF chairman Tan Sri Samsudin Osman. The dividend payout of the RM24.47bil was derived after deducting net impairment allowance on financial assets...

Recently I have got a reader asking me on how to calculate PCB given the certain amount that he or she told me from my How To Calculate PCB or Schedular Tax Deduction (STD) for Salary and Bonus post that I have written in 2010. So, I guess it is time to refresh the blog post with the example that he or she gave me. Ok. Here we go. We are about to calculate the PCB given the salary is RM2,000 and with allowance of RM300 and the bonus given is 2 months. So we have the total bonus of RM4,000. Again, I will be using the PCB rate for single. The calculation is as follows:- Salary = RM2,000 EPF deduction = RM220 Salary for PCB calculation = Gross salary - EPF deduction = RM2,000 - RM220 = RM1,780 (this is also your net_salary when you want to calculate the PCB rate for bonus) (Again we need to take note: The maximum total EPF deduction allowed for PCB or STD calculation is RM500 (RM6,000 / 12 = RM500). If your salary is RM5,000 and above, just put RM500 under EPF deduction ) According to t...

Financial planning is probably the most important thing that we must be aware of. Most young adults find it difficult to plan for their financial condition because of the "yum cha" and cool cultures....most young adults are probably pampered way too much by their parents...their studies and everything are planned out so well....honestly, I am envied of those students who have their parents sponsored everything. Anyway, I appreciate what I have as well and I believe the first step to financial planning is protection.  Some of my friends told me that they are going to buy insurance but now is not the right time....as they are just starting out, they need more time. I am not an insurance agent but working in an insurance company, I come to realize that protection is probably the first thing that we get for ourselves. It is not about the profit from these insurance policies but the protection that comes with it. Of course, one should not buy too many insurance policies either.....