Latest FD, EPF, Inflation, BLR and Saving Interest Rates History Trend in Malaysia

If you wonder where to get the latest FD (Fixed Deposit), saving interest, EPF (Employee Provident Fund) dividend, BLR (Base Lending Rate) and inflation rates history trend in Malaysia, this is the place for you. I wrote about a similar topic in my previous post (almost 3 years ago) and apparently it is out-dated. The latest data was only up to 2007.

I will use this post to keep track of the latest interest rates. As you can see from the graph or chart below, I put the inflation rate as reference – green line. Any interest rates above the green line is good to go and this is where you want to put your money into. However for those who are buying house, you need to look at the BLR – brown line, any investment return that higher than BLR is where you want to put your money into especially if you don’t like Flexi loan package.


[Updated: 26 April 2014] 

What can we conclude from this trend?

• Saving rates is getting lower and lower. Thus, you shouldn’t put your money in saving at all. For instance, if your monthly expenses is RM3K, you just need to make sure that you have RM4K in your saving account every month. RM1K extra is for backup.

• FD is as useless as saving but it is still better because it is higher than inflation rate in most of the years. But keep in mind that personal inflation rate is the thing that you want to look at (not the inflation rate reported by the government!)  

• As expected, EPF is the best investment vehicle (of course only compared to FD and saving) and it is catching up the BLR rate (but still below BLR). This tells you that withdrawing your EPF money to pay your house loan is the right choice. How about withdrawing your EPF for Mutual Fund? Yes, but do this only when you believe the mutual fund return could be higher than 6%.

• 6% is a important value (based on EPF dividend return and also BLR). You will use your extra money to invest (after you have enough emergency fund) and your investment return should at least more than 6%. If not, you’re making a bad investment. 

[Updated: 28 Jan 2012]: Check it out the graph in 2011, inflation rate is now catching up with FD! :)

[Updated: 26 April 2014]: Update data up to 2013, inflation has moved down (lower than FD) and EPF is till performing good!

P/S: Well, to summarize: don’t put your money in saving and use FD as emergency fund. EPF dividend rate and BLR are very important because that is the investment goal that you want to set (i.e. Any of your investment return from stock, mutual fund, and bonds should be more than 6%).

How to read buying & selling price in money changer counter?

Have you ever confused with currency exchange especially when you want to buy certain country’s currency in the money changer counter before you travel? Should you aim for lower or higher price?

There are only 4 things you should able to see from money changer counter: Date, Unit, Currency, Buying and Selling prices.  Here is the example:

		Date:	20/02/2011
Unit	Currency	We Buy	We Sell
1	US Dollar	3.015	3.035
1	Great Britain Pound	4.880	4.935
100	Chinese RMB	46.000	46.650
1000	Japanese Yen	36.250	36.700

Before you go into this, the first thing you need to know is the base currency. The base currency should be the currency based on the country where you exchange your money. For example, if you go to the money changer in Malaysia, the base currency will be in MYR – Malaysia Ringgit. If you exchange your money in China, then the base currency will be based on the Chinese RMB then.

The table above is an example that you can see from the money changer in Malaysia (the base currency is MYR). The table tells you that you need RM3.035 to exchange with 1 US dollar and RM46.650 to exchange with 100 Chinese RMB. Look at the “We Sell” column whenever you want to buy and look at the “We Buy” column whenever you want to sell.  The formula is very easy:

You want to buy foreign currency with MYR, this is how much you should get:

Money that you want to exchange in base currency(MYR) / We Sell (Buying Price) X Unit

You want to sell foreign currency and get back the MYR, this is how much you should get:

Money that you want to exchange in target currency(Foreign $) X We Buy (Selling Price) / Unit

Example 1: You want to exchange RM10K to USD. You should able to get:

RM10K/3.035 X 1 = USD 3,294.89

Example 2: You want to exchange RM10K to RMB. You should able to get:

RM10K/46.65 X 100 = RMB 21,436.23

Example 3: You want to exchange USD10K to MYR. You should able to get:

USD10K X 3.015 / 1 = RM 30,150

Example 4: You want to exchange RMB10K to MYR. You should able to get:

RMB10K X 46.00 / 100 = RM 4,600

Key Notes: The lower of the buying price (we sell) or the higher of the selling price (we buy), the more money that you will be getting back after the conversion. Thus, if you want to compare with different money changers, look at the lowest buying price (we sell) and highest selling price (we buy) that they can offer. It is a similar concept with buy low and sell high. If you want buy, look for the lowest price. If you want to sell, look for the highest price.

Happy traveling! :)

p/S: The different between the selling & buying price is where the money changer makes their money!

Latest Live Gold Price History Trend in MYR & USD

This the gold price trend in 1 year, 5 years and 10 years in Malaysia Ringgit (MYR) and US dollar (USD) currency. The following graphs will be automatically refreshed to show the latest live and most updated history trend.

The data is sourced from goldprice.org. Have fun! :)


1-Year Gold Price in MYR & USD

Per ounce

Per ounce

Per gram

Per gram



5-Year Gold Price in MYR & USD

Per ounce

Per ounce

Per gram

Per gram



10-Year Gold Price in USD

Per ounce

Per ounce

Per gram

Per gram



Notes: The Y-axis is in unit ounce and 1 tray ounce = 31.1034768 grams. If you want to covert to grams, you need to divide the number with 31.1034768 to convert the Y-axis to grams.

[29 March 2014]: Update graph to include per gram so you don't need to convert it to ounce. 

P/S: For real time daily live gold price in Malaysia, visit here.

Gold Related Articles: 

• Gold price goes up because of 2012 propheycy?
• Invest gold in Malaysia through Public Bank.

Lifespan vs. Income in the Past & Future

This is an interesting video and yet easy to be understood by Hans Rosling (a Swedish medical doctor and satistician) explaining the world progress in the past 200 years ago. Here you go and enjoy! :)



In case you don't get it yet, how big is the bubble represents population size of a countries. Brown or light orange bubbles refer to Europe. Yellow bubbles refer to USA. Red bubbles refer to Asia and Blue bubbles refer to Africa,

There are few interesting things that I get from this video:

• I don't know we die so early in 200 years ago which is below age of 40? Please note that the 40 years old is the top and average it should be (40 + 25) / 2 = 32 years old. Huh? Averagely we can live until 32 years only in 200 years ago? Interesting...

• You may notice very big swing in some of the countries and I guess it is probably due to the War or tragedy (e.g. diseases) that happened to those countries. That's why you see such big swing on the income or the lifespan. You can look at the action replay at the end of this video. OR is it mainly for animation purpose? I could be wrong...

• As what is expected, rich & poor gap in China is demonstrated. Shanghai wealth is like Italy and Guizhou wealth is like Pakistan and etc. I like the way how he splits the bubble... 

• Everyone is moving towards the "Rich & Healthy" direction. So let's extrapolate the graph, everyone will be "Rich & Healthy" in 100 years later? Hmm... how true is this? So, no bell curve? 

• Moving forward, my best guess is probably everyone will be healthy but NOT everyone will be rich. The lifespan will be increased to a certain limit (e.g. 80 years old) but the gap for the income should still be there or maybe even serious in 100 years later. The rich will become richer, the poor will become poorer and the middle class stays where they are and trying to survive. It is probably just shifting the graph (e.g. 40K income become a middle class income). What do you say?

P/S: I love the way how he presented his idea using graphs with animation. Cool isn't it? Apparently he has many other interesting videos too. Have fun to browse around them!

Check Tyre Manufacture Date and its Certification

I still remembered when I got my first car and I didn’t understand the importance of changing new tyre until my tyre broke into pieces in the middle of the highway. That was due to the tyre was too old (> 7 years old)and the rubber become too hard. I couldn't imagine the tyre can just break into pieces at that time! :)

From that time onwards, I always pay attention to my tyre and to make sure it gets changed maximum every 4 years. Well, the usual recommendation is  you should always change every 2 years to 4 years for safety purpose. The reason is most tyre manufacturer only has 4 to 5 years warranty period. So assuming if your tyre is brand new, you can only used up to 4 years or 5 years.

Wait a minute! If you buy a tyre in 2010, does that mean you should change in 2014? Well, that is only true if your tyre was made in 2010. If your tyre was made in 2009, you should change in 2013 and if your tyre was made in 2008, you should change in 2012 (which is 2 years after you buy a new tyre). So, it is extremely important to understand when your tyre was made? If it was made in 2006, your tyre has already expired although you buy a new one. You’re being cheated!


How to check tyre manufacture date?

Well, tyre manufacture date can be found from your surface of your tyre. What you need to do is look for the 4 digit numbers. First 2 digit numbers represent the week of the years (1 year has 52 weeks) and the second 2 digit numbers represent the years after 2000. Here are the few examples that you can see from your tyre:

As you can see, the 0907 refers to this tired was made in week 09 of 2007.

The manufacture date (i.e. 2307 - week 27, 2007) is usually stamped at the right side of the DOT code as you can see below:

 
However, I’ve seen not all tyres are like that. So the rule of thumb is just to search for the entire tyre that contains the 4 digit numbers. So, please make sure you check your existing tyre (is it already expired?) or the new tyre that you buy (is it really new?).

My recommendation: You should only buy new tyre with less than 1 year old. Please check every time you get a new tyre and don’t be cheated. This is also good for your safety.

P/S: Well, if you don't see any 4 digit numbers. This is usually the 4 digit numbers are at the other side of the tyre. For some tyres, only one side have the manufacture date information. An inexperience worker may not aware of it and fix your tyres wrongly. The date should be always faced outside.


US, Europe or Malaysia Certification?

There are basically 2 international standards of certification. In US, the DOT code is being used and in Europe, the E-mark is being used. Your tyre should at least contains minimum one of them (either DOT code or E-mark).  The following shows example of DOT code and E-mark (e.g. Eii or E4) from your tyre:

However, as for Malaysia certification, it is usually marked with the “Sirim” logo and the word “SNI” (optional).  The following shows example of the “Sirim” logo (i.e. MS) and the word “SNI”.

Well, “Sirim” and “SNI” is in fact not a big deal (although it seems to be a big deal). If you have the “Sirim” and “SNI”(optional) mark on you tyre, you still want to make sure you have a least one of the either the DOT code or E-mark on your tyre. Having US or Europe certification is most  important thing.  If your tyre is made in Malaysia, the "Sirim” and “SNI”(optional) marks must be there.

My recommendation: You should make sure your tyre must at least contain the DOT code or the E-mark code. If you're Malaysian and you really scared (in Chinese, we call it “Kia Su”), you can make sure your tyre has the “Sirim” Logo but please also make sure it contains DOT code or the E-mark code as well. If you’re super scared (i.e. super Kia Su), you can make sure you tyre has 3 of them (i.e. DOT code, E-mark, and Sirim)!!!


Summary

Tyre is the most important safety that we all should pay attention to but it often gets ignored.  You should understand how to read these codes on your tyre (at least the manufacture date), to make sure it is not old or expired (i.e. > 4 years) and make sure it has the proper certification (i.e. DOT code or the E-mark). You should also often check your tyre condition (e.g. enough air pressure – usually is 32 psi for normal compact car). Good luck!

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year 2011! Drive safely too…

How to be Public Mutual Gold Member?

Ignore this post if you're not interested in Public Mutual funds (biggest unit trust company in Malaysia)

You may or may not have heard of it. There is a thing called “Mutual Gold” membership from Public Mutual. You will get this status when you have invested at least RM 100K investment in any of the load funds (i.e. funds that have sale charges). For example, investing in no-load funds (e.g. bond or fixed income fund) is not eligible for this Mutual Gold membership.

By the way, I got this status 2 months ago! :) This is how the package looks like:

It is calculated based on the Mutual Gold Qualifying Points (MGQP). Basically RM 1 of investment is equivalent to 1 MGQP points. You probably haven’t realized, this MGQP is also stated in your investment statement too.


FAQ

(1) If I’m the second holder of the fund, am I qualified for MGQP?
 No. You must be the first holder of the fund to be qualified for MGQP. That also means that you should NOT simply switch to second holder especially you invest together with your spouse.

(2) What are the benefits of being Mutual Gold member?
Well, you can just check it out from the public mutual website here.

(3) If my fund’s NAV drops, will be my MGQP reduced too?
No, it won’t. It will be reduced if you sell your fund or switch to no-load fund (e.g. bond or fixed income fund).

(4) Will my MGQP increase if the NAV goes up?
No too. The capital gain from your investment will not be considered for MGQP. For example, your invest RM1K after 1 year, your balance become RM1.5K, your MGQP will still remain at 1000 points.

(5) Which benefits of Mutual Gold that you find most useful?
For me, I particularly like the following benefits of becoming the Mutual Gold member (well probably you have different list): 

• Free personal accident insurance (Well, this is free insurance. Why not?)
• Quarterly statement of accounts (Hope it at least provides more information than what I can get online)
• Free switching fees - 18 switches per annual (No more excuse that I shouldn't switch to optimize my investment)
• Email update for quarterly fund review (Not sure how useful this is, have to check it out)
• Free will writing service (Cool, this is usually NOT free service)

p/s: Well, wish you will get your mutual gold member soon if you're public mutual investor. The next thing is the Mutual Gold Elite which required 500K MGQP(points).

How do others perceive you is NOT important?

I’m going to share with you this very interesting topic, that I usually share this with my people and other leaders verbally. This is the first time, I write this down in the blog. Let’s see if you really find this interesting…

When you just graduated from university or when you're still in school, you usually do not care how others perceive you as long as you think you're doing a right thing or the things that you like to do. So you don’t care about their perception as long as their perception is wrong or not valid.

However, the more you have grown up, the more you found out that how others perceive you is important. This is mainly because how others perceive you can turn you into who you are being perceived as. Others may perceive you wrongly, but the fact is whether their perception is right or wrong or the truth, it doesn’t really matter because what they perceive will turn you into what they want you to be. Do not believe me? Let me tell you why…


Have you heard of micro-messages?

You may not notice that your body send out millions of micro-messages every moment, every day.  These are all hidden messages generated from your body language which eventually can become a very powerful programming language to program another person’s mind without you even notice it. Let me give you an example:

Assuming you have 10 employees who work for you, one of them (let say employee A) is very stupid in your perception somehow. So everyday when you come to work and you see this employee A, your body language (although it is not obvious) send million of micro-messages to this employee A and the micro-message is “You’re Stupid”.  You’re actually sending millions of this affirmation message - “You’re stupid” to program this employee A’s sub-conscious mind everyday you see him. This message is then translated to “I’m stupid” by his sub-conscious mind and eventually turns this person to be really a stupid person even though initially he is not. The technical term for this is called “Neuro-Linguistic programming” or “NLP".

What so powerful about this micro-messages is that they can remotely program somebody sub-conscious mind. Of course, these-messages become even more powerful if more than 1 person to send the exact same micro-message. For example, you influence another manager to think or perceive the same about this employee A, thus not only you but also other managers also send exact the same messages to this employee A. The more people send the same message to this employee A, the higher chances this employee A will turn into what they want him to be.


How to defend these negative micro-messages?

Well, if what I said is correct, then everyone can remotely program anyone as they like. Well, not really. First of all, you can’t easily control your own micro-messages because it is in your sub-conscious mind.

For example,  you can NOT easily force your sub-conscious mind to send a micro-message that conflicts with your perception.  Secondly, you may not be so easy to remotely program a highly confident people because you’re sending a million of messages (i.e. You’re stupid) to him but he might be sending even more messages - thousands of million of micro-messages (i.e. I’m clever) to himself!


Who care as long as I’m confident?

Well, are you sure you are 100% confident? If the answer is absolutely yes, you got it. You do NOT really need to care about how others perceive you. If your answer is no, then you should really care on how others perceive you.

When they perceive you good, they send good micro-messages to you. When they perceive you bad, they send bad micro-messages to you. Good or positive micro-messages eventually help you to build-up your confident. That is the reason you should care about how others perceive you.


Summary
 
Usually people care about how others perceive them is because they may not understand themselves much. That’s why understand how people perceive them can help them to understand who they really are.

However, I’m talking at the different level that let’s assuming you understand yourself and what other perceive you is wrong, you still need to care about their perception. This is because this perception is extremely powerful and important that it eventually can turn you into someone else that you’re not. This due to the micro-messages and Neuro-Linguistic programming as I mentioned above.

Well, agree or disagree? Do you care how others perceive you? Any comments?

p/s: Having said so, if you care so much of how others perceive on non-important stuff, that may NOT be a good thing to you too. This is because you’re focusing on the wrong thing. So prioritizing and choosing what you should look at others to perceive you is also important. By the way, my very old post that you may find interesting: The Power of Perceptive Reality.