Personal Finance (August 2010)

I think it is only fair if I share some of my knowledge in this area, in which even older adults, our parents or lecturers, have little knowledge of. You may ask them about this topic, and they may tell you what they know.....few years ago. Banks are just like any other businesses, with the main objective of maximizing profit. Therefore, their policies and regulations are always changing, being influenced by economic, competition and political factors. We, bankers, who are in this industry is always up-to-date with the latest information. I have only been working for one year in the bank, yet the bank has changed its policies for about 3 times already. And they are going to change again next month too.

WARNING: DO NOT READ THIS, IF YOU'RE EXPECTING MILD ENTERTAINMENT AND DO NOT WISH TO PLAN FOR THE FUTURE YET.

There are two basic factors in which the bank consider and evaluate before approving your loan.

1) Your capability to pay

This refers to your income. If you are a :

a) Salary-earner : Salary earners refer to employees working under an organization/company with a fixed amount of income every month. You need to have at least 3 months payslips with your salary being credited the exact amount in your bank statements. If you have EPF, make sure it's being shown consistently in your EPF statements. The banker will check the amount on your payslips, bank statements and EPF statements to see if the amount tallies. You may also include your income tax statements (also known as Borang B/Borang BE/Borang EA) with payment receipts to prove that your earnings are legal and genuine. ( as you have declared to the government)

b)Self-employed/Commission Earner/ Having own business : Self employed can be referred to freelancers such as freelance writer, consultants, tutors, insurance agents, direct sales agents or having some kind of business. As your income is inconsistent and your are unable to provide payslips as proof of income, your most important document is income tax statements. It is important that you declare tax, or else you will find difficulty in obtaining bank loans because you cannot prove that you are actually earning. Let's say for starters, fresh graduates, perhaps you can declare RM3000 per month? Which is about RM36 000 a year. We will only have to pay tax if our income exceed RM3000 per month. And of course, if you declare higher, it means that you have higher capability to pay, thus can obtain higher loan.

Debt-income ratio (DIR)

• Your total debt must not exceed 70% of your total income. For example, if you earn RM3000 a month, you must not have debts (car, property, personal, credit card loans) exceeding RM2100. However, for the bank I am working for, they actually allowed DIR of not more than 80%.

2)Your credit risk

• You must at least have a credit card if you want to apply for property, personal or business loan. And once you have a credit card, make sure you use it and pay consistently every month. This is important because the bank would not want to lend to people who do not have experience in handling debt. Most people would think, "Oh no, I don't want to have a credit card, later I simply spend". If you pay within the month itself, you will not be charged interest, only annual fee. Interest per annum is around 12%-15%, which means around 1%+ a month.
• Your credit history, this will be shown in CCRIS report. CCRIS report shows how well you handle your debts, if you default more than twice in the last six months, it is most unlikely your loan will be approved. If you're blacklisted, your name will appear in CTOS. Don't even think about applying loans, you have to clear your debts and get a letter from Bank Negara Malaysia and show good credit payment for the next six months.

Alright, I shall stop boring you with the excess details in eligibility in obtaining loans. This is a brief information for the type of loans out there.

Personal loan:

• Interest rate is around 8%-13% per annum, depending on your credit risk. Maximum loan payment period is 5 years. Usually approval in about a week. It can be straight-line or reducing balance calculation.
• You can borrow five times of your monthly income or if you have a credit card, take the limit of your credit card, divide it by 3, then multiply by 5. The credit card calculation actually enables you to borrow more.
• To be honest, I don't quite see why we, fresh graduates need to get a personal loan. Down payment for a car? Marriage? Vacation? Further studies? Lol?

Property loan:

• This gotta be the cheapest rate of all types of loans. Because it is known as secured lending. In any case of default, the bank can take back the property.
• Interest Rate: Depends on the bank, usually it's BLR-1.5% up to BLR-2.4%, depending on the loan amount. (*Current BLR=6.3%, just use this amount to minus. Eg, BLR-2%; which means 6.3%-2%=4.3%, 4.3% is the interest rate charged.)
• Loan margin: 90% of your property purchase price. Which means you have to bear the minimum of 10% yourself.
• Loan tenure : Maximum 30 years, up to 70 years old.
• The "quality" the property is measured by MF (Marketability Factor). The minimum MF must be at least 6-6.5/10. Banks will not finance properties which are not marketable.
• The property market is booming recently. There a bubble predicted to be happening. Properties are selling like hot cakes now, and their prices are shooting up very high. Would be the perfect moment and sell at this time. Investors are speculating the future property market, which looks promising by the speed of property units being snapped up and the greater appreciation value.

Car loan:

• I am most uninterested to talk about this. Car value depreciates about 20% a year, the foreign cars in our country is overpriced (not only foreign, local also. Even proton cars sell cheaper in UK than in Malaysia) and it affects our DIR. If you have recalled, if you buy a car and get a car loan, it will increase your debt, thus increase your DIR, which reduces your chances of getting loan for potentially high-return properties.
• Anyway, we silly naive youngsters would still love to show off with cars and all. Here you go, with the information.:

1. Up to 90% for new purchase or less than 5 years old car. For 6 to 10 years, you can borrow up to 85%. For more than 10 years, buy with cash lah.
2. Interest rate : 2% to 4% per annum. The longer your loan period, the higher the interest you pay. But then again, if the shorter your loan period, the lower the interest paid, the higher installment you have to pay a month. :D
3. Maximum 108 months, (9 years). Finance students, bring out your financial calculator to compute the monthly payments.
4. You only need photocopy I/C, 3 latest months payslips with latest 3 months bank statements and the receipt for the down payment of your car.

Business Loans

• This is the hardest loan to obtain. Minimum 3 years in operation. Minimum at least RM1million sales turnover for the last 2 years. For start-ups, very difficult to get unless you charged your collateral with your loan or bear higher interest. Repayment period is 5 years. Very risky to take this loan if you ask me, unless your business is well-established.
• Interest rate : Similar to personal loan, depending on your credit risk. You can obtain as low as 6% per annum if the government suddenly launch some economy stimulation package plan or being supported by CGC. (Corporate Guarantee Corporation) Otherwise, the usual rate is above 9.9% above.
• If you are truly interested in getting the best deal for business loan, email me or leave a message.
• For young people who are inspired to start a business or plan to expand their business, consider getting personal loan or refinancing your property as another option.

So, my dear friends, you can start planning for your first car or property. If you want a car, save at least 10% of the purchase price and work for at least 3 months. If you want a property, start declaring your income tax for the 2 years and have a credit card. Best wishes to the visionaries who actually read this whole thing. Cheers.

A Perfect Girlfriend

You can ask a man on what kind of girl he likes and he will tell you all sorts of things like certain characteristics and all. But when it comes to real thing, it is rather or may be different than his dream girl. Because the his girl in the real world is better than the one in his dreams. Because she is real. Because she could complete his soul unlike the one in his dreams.

Many people had asked me before on what kind of guy I like. I could give you an endless list on my set of expectations; Tall, dark, sharp features, athletic, smart, outgoing, responsible, ambitious, hardworking, sexy,no fats,same religion, etc etc etc.

But deep down in my soul, all I wanted is just someone who really cares and understands me, someone who could see me through and willing to go an extra mile for me. It's just that simple. That someone must have really love me in order to make that kind of effort. It's love that push us beyond our boundaries and the feeling is almost impossible to describe. Whatever that comes with the "expectations" is a bonus. ;) *I can't wink in real life*

My angelic sexy man~

Anyway, this is based on my experience and in-depth analysis of what a girlfriend should be and what does a man consciously and subconsciously expects from his woman.

Here's the list:

1. A perfect girlfriend knows how to carry herself well. In terms of grooming and communication in order not to embarrass her man. He would be soo proud and eager to show her to his friends and family.
2. She loves his family as much as she loves him, probably more.
3. She shall not dwell on things that is unlikely to happen in the future.
4. She knows better than to make her problems his.
5. She knows how to turn her man on, pushing all the right buttons and make him go rocket sky high.
6. She knows his interests and priorities in life.
7. She gives him his space in order for him to do his things. He had a life before her, and besides her. She doesn't mourn at home on how her man neglects her and how he "prefers" to spend time with his friends and not her.
8. She knows how to make rational decisions, not being unreasonable just to get his attention and test his limits of "loving" her.
9. She can be independent and not clingy. A clingy girlfriend who spends all her free time complaining about her man is definitely a turn-off. There is more to life than just romance and roses. I know there is a number of guys who are intimidated by my work. But have you fail to realize that I am capable of taking care of myself and do not need to rely on you for petty stuff? I do not stay at home, chatting with strangers on facebook and msn, just to get more male attention. I do not spend most my free time outside flirting, shopping or doing useless things like bitching about other girls. Have you noticed that I am much more reasonable and rational in comparison to other girls? Anybody can go crazy with too much free time, thanks to the ability of the complex mind to complicate reality.
10. She doesn't bring back past problems to make the current problems worse. Wouldn't be really sweet of her to use guilt manipulation to hurt you and make you feel worse.
11. She knows better than to make your arguments/disagreements a public show.
12. She takes care of her body well. Exercise and good personal hygiene
13. She tells you where she is going and not to make you worry like hell. She always has her handphone with her, so getting to her is just a call away.
14. She doesn't believe that you wanna have sex with every girl you complimented.
15. She knows how to get along well with your family and friends.
16. She isn't entirely a princess; has basic knowledge and does household chores and cooking.
17. She loves you for who you are. Embracing your strengths and accepting your weaknesses.

These are just ideas on how to make a relationship better. Because most of the time, the cause of arguments is due to a female's insecurities and a male's tactless-ness. And of course, nobody is perfect, but the effort being invested in the relationship will make it all worthwhile.

So yeah, for the girlfriends who hit most of the points above, reward yourself with a warm bikini wax. For the guys who have such girlfriends, reward her with a marathon make-out session.

For the girls who still live under her unrealistic set of expectations of her guy, you should realized that your man would never have the intention of hurting you and it's time to see things from a different angle. Or perhaps, probably, you do not love him as much as you thought you did. Probably that's why you're mad at the silly little things, argued, cried and the guy still doesn't seem to understand. When things get really worse, the guy blows up and yes, that's it. The perfect moment to leave the relationship because you have "tried" your best to save it. What a way to comfort yourself and tell your friends he was just not the right one for you. We, humans, insecure manipulators.

Commitments and the joy of being in a relationship. The cycles and phases of a relationship.

The only way to make a relationship last is by staying in it. But if it's too tough, perhaps it isn't meant to be. Confusing, isn't it, girls? You have just lost the "feeling". Feelings tend to be lost when the other start to take another for granted.

Mun Fhoong's Birthday

This is the first time I am posting about an event.

My beloved bra, Mun Fhoong.
No,not the bra as in the lingerie, "bra" as in "bra-ther"



I knew him since primary school. I always thought him as a cute little monkey with big sparkling eyes and good features. When I got to know him in depth, he is more than just another pretty face. He has a good sense of humour and is a big bag of fun.

So, as usual, our gang went out for dinner, at Brussels, Jaya One.



For me, the food is lousy and expensive, but the company was great. =D

We also bumped into beautiful Hazel and perasan Sam.

Will Looking at Mun Fhoong's Boobies Cake



Me, complimenting the grape.



Wai Kin, looking good, Like some strawberry ad. Joanna loves this pic.



Joanna seem fascinated with the "Whole Garden". I love this drink, it makes me high without being sober. Very minimal level of alcohol.



Two stoners. Wai hoong and Kim Hoong.



All of us are suppose to go to Puteri 12 to further celebrate, but being a "Cinderella", I've decided to call it a night. Exam on the following week and the next day was gonna be a long day. Nevertheless, these guys still have fun. All the crazy things they did.. Hahah..

I love you guys so much. Every outing with you guys were a lot of fun. Years of friendship we had.

That is all for now. It's 5am and I shall get some sleep.

Happy birthday,bra. =)