In November 2020, I spent RM14,369.99. The top 3 categories and top expenses within the categories were:
On 28 October 2020, Hann Liew from RinggitPlus and I appeared on the #Hann&Suraya: Personal Finances ChitChat, the financial literacy webinar organised by Bank Negara Malaysia and Financial Education Network.
We managed to answer 19 audience-submitted questions, live. I’ve uploaded the full video in RinggitOhRinggit Youtube channel. Here are the questions, plus shortcuts:
My confession of the day is I get inferiority complex about not having financial background or certification, despite being one of Malaysia’s top personal finance bloggers.
Don’t get me wrong. I am confident in my personal finance knowledge and ability to explain it well. But Impostor Syndrome is Impostor Syndrome, so after literal *years* of thinking about it, I’ve finally decided to be a CFP Professional, a Certified Financial Planner. If all goes well – and ahahaah I hope it does MALU DOH KALAU FAIL – I should get those 3 letters by the end of 2021.
When I shared this life update on social media, many people got really interested in the process, so here I am, recording the journey. This article covers the basics:
I found all the information via online research, so if any sections are wrong/ inaccurate do let me know and I’ll edit 🙂
So you have a car that you’re barely using.
Maybe you’re working from home. Maybe you prefer taking public transportation to work (hello RM30 Unlimited RapidKL travel pass). Maybe your lifestyle changed and you’re just not using your car as much anymore, but you don’t really want to sell it because you still need it sometimes.
Make some money out of this situation. Rent it out. Here are a few places to rent out your car in Malaysia.
Accelerate your personal finance knowledge with this regular feature on Ringgit Oh Ringgit – the Link Roundup! I promise you’ll find these 10 links informational 🙂
Anyone = anyone who is not systematically disadvantaged, but anyways.
So the 6 most common wealth-building habits of 1000 millionaires (of which 80% are self-made) are:
Have you ever thought of how ‘offence’ and ‘defence’ look like, within the personal finance context? Society at large likes to over glorify Offence moves because, well, it’s exciting.
Let me show you some examples:
Makes sense, right? If you’re lucky, your Offence will pay off. But if you’re not, well that’s what Defence is for.
Here’s one more Offence/Defence you should know: Thriving financial ecosystem which constantly shifts to adapt to new situations is solidly Offence. Protecting consumers in case any of the risk-taking activities didn’t pay off is Defence.
PIDM is the Defence for that particular situation.
On 1st November 2020, I had the extreme pleasure to collaborate with one of my favourite Malaysians, Ainie Haziqah in her Sunday Nights with AH live session. Aside from being the Managing Partner at law firm Nurainie Haziqah & Co, she also co-founded Happy Bank NGO AND Girl2Leader Malaysian chapter AND Human Aid Selangor NGO AND KitaLearn AND Wanita Muda Negara.
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Our chosen topic was Productivity Tips for Women, and even though I feel inadequate to talk about this topic next to her, I know I can at least contribute a little bit. At the very least, I know I scored 65 out of 105 in the Pozen Productivity Test, a 21-question survey based on seven habits of productivity:
Being poor in this country is no fun.
Banks reject their loans and credit card applications. Society judges them for getting married and having children (“cannot afford, don’t la!”). They’re priced out of accommodation near public transportation and have to spend more on transportation (the irony!!).
Before we proceed, let me just preface this article with this statement: I’ve never been poor. While we had some tough moments, we never went hungry and we’ve always had shelter. I can’t even pretend to understand the systemic barriers faced by different poor communities all over Malaysia, especially those who face multiple discrimination.
But I can empathise. Partially due to my work background (I did social work before somehow ending up with this career), and partially because, I dunno, there is absolutely no excuse not to educate myself in this day and age.
Accelerate your personal finance knowledge with this regular feature on Ringgit Oh Ringgit – the Link Roundup! I promise you’ll find these 10 links informational 🙂
A LOT of people have lost their jobs lately, so I think this article from Syaza is very very timely. In the spirit of ‘give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe’, please spend time polishing your resume before you send it out.
All of the tips great tips (I LOVE TIP 4!), and also appreciate how Syaza personalised her CV and tailored them to each job application.
I mean, when someone does this, you KNOW they know what they’re talking about.
In October 2020, I spent RM7,087.30. The top 3 categories were: Donations, Rent & Utilities and Wedding. All in all, it was a comparatively lean month.
This is a super-meta article about the process of writing good articles.
I can’t emphasise how useful writing is, as a skill. You can organise your thoughts with it. You can attract like-minded people when you share it. You can create blogs and websites and earn a living as content creator and/or copywriter. Combine writing skill with digital marketing and psychology and you’ll be unstoppable.
In the spirit of ‘it’s not bragging if its facts’, I do think I’m qualified to write this guide. I earned a Masters in Corporate Communications, a Degree in Media, Communications and Culture and a Diploma in Mass Communications. And not to mention all the work experience in the communications field, while salaried and now self-employed.
Another reason to learn: Writing about personal finance in ringgitohringgit.com made me better at personal finance. I want you to sharpen this skill, and see how writing will directly and indirectly benefit your financial life, too.
Here’s how to write good articles:
Everyone wants insurance. But barely anyone wants to be ‘sold’ one. This fact has exasperated insurance agents like crazy since the beginning of time.
I’ve been researching how to buy insurance in Malaysia for a while now. It started when I was in my early 20s, a good decade ago. And it’s time to compile everything I know *so far* in an article, for my own reference and yours.
Some notes before we start:
Let’s go-
