Suraya, Author at Ringgit Oh Ringgit

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Suraya

28 ^th
September

[SPONSORED] 5 Sessions You’ll Want to Attend at SCxSC20

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My fellow fintech nerds, where you at? Securities Commission Malaysia’s annual fintech event is back, and this year they’re taking it virtual!

SCxSC Fintech Conference 2020 or SCxSC20 for short, held in partnership with Rakuten Trade and MDEC will be happening completely online from 5 to 7 October 2020, for the steep price of FREE.

Like the previous years, the schedule is filled with thematic sessions under the fintech umbrella. This year, the four verticals are: Innovative Technology, SC Digital Initiative, Fintech Entrepreneurship and Fintech Literacy.

Some of the sessions are *really* cool, I thought I’d list them here, schedule them into your calendar. Here are five sessions that you’ll want to attend at SCxSC20.

#1 – Investment Behavior In Turbulent Times

23 ^rd
September

Link Roundup #60: 10 Things to Know This Week

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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 🙂

1. 10 Risky Investments to Avoid… Unless You Can Afford to Lose Everything – The Penny Hoarder

This is a great list of risky investments. Part of the investing process is not just learning what to do, but also what not to do before you have enough knowledge and financial safety net.

Initially I didn’t agree with Gold/Silver (no #9), although yes they do have a point. Keeping them as coin collection or jewellery CAN be dangerous – you’re one robbery away from losing it all.

21 ^st
September

[SPONSORED] Your Money Protected or Not? A Quiz

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If you’re like me, you probably have your money all over the place:

In bank accounts (plural, because I have a few accounts with a few banks)
In various e-wallets and prepaid cards,
‘Borrowed’ from legal entities (ie credit cards and loans) or illegal entities (ah long money lenders),
In ‘future money’ like insurance/takaful payouts,
In various investment accounts,
In physical forms like gold or property or high-value collectables,
With your friend who promised to pay you back soon,
In actual wallets (almost forgot about this one. Cashless trend is still going strong)
And more.

So my question to you today is… do you know what kind of protection is available for each of those listed? How sure are you that you get to access your money when you need to use it?

Wait huh, you might think, of course your money should be accessible, the financial ecosystem in Malaysia is good, right? (it is), I don’t need to worry, right? (mostly you don’t… but you should still know because this concerns YOUR money).

Take this quiz to test your understanding of your money’s protection – which is protected by PIDM and which isn’t. Have a look at the three scenarios, including one of Future You (surprise! You’ve reached financial freedom and are a multi-millionaire!)

Quiz #1 – How Protected is Kay’s Money?

16 ^th
September

How to Buy Cryptocurrencies in Malaysia [2020 Guide]

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GO BACK if you (1) don’t have at least 3 6 12 months’ worth of expenses in savings (where to save money), and (2) not good and not willing to learn about digital security. I’m dead serious, GO BACK. Cryptocurrencies as an investment is NOT suitable for you right now. You’re entering the high risk, high rewards zone.

Alright, full disclosure time – I am a crypto investor, since end of 2015. Why? Sure, there are people who buy cryptocurrencies for their utility, but let’s face it, most people get into it for the profit potential, including myself. The value is driven by supply and demand and purely speculative in nature.

In case that isn’t clear, I’ll repeat: (1) I’m biased because I’m a crypto investor, and (2) cryptocurrencies is a speculative investment.

14 ^th
September

Let Me Show You Which Budgeting Style Works for You

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Question: do you know your own budgeting style?

Kinda? Loosely?

Is it working?

Kinda? Not really?

Well now’s a good time as any to improve on your budgeting style, try a different one, or maybe find out the name of the method you’re doing now. You may find a style that may work better for your personality, or even help you to achieve specific goals (ie paying off debt).

See if you can find your description in any of the budgeting styles below…

09 ^th
September

Link Roundup #59: 10 Things to Know This Week

Posted by Suraya - 2 Comments

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 🙂

1. Why Are Rich People So Mean? – Wired

Great read, something to be aware of as you get financially better. Money buys us distance – house in gated communities, car instead of bus, a set at the VIP section – and that reduces our interaction with the community, which includes the less privileged.

The more you do it, the easier it is to ignore. You no longer ‘see’ the problem.

07 ^th
September

How to Buy Happiness: 5 Science-Backed Principles to Know TODAY

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This is ~~a review~~ my own condensed notes of the book Happy Money: The Science of Happier Spending by Elizabeth Dunn and Michael Norton.

She is the Professor of Social Psychology at the University of British Columbia, he is the Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School, and together they merged psychology and money, with the aim of answering the question: how to buy happiness.

02 ^nd
September

Budget Update: August 2020

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Budget Update: August 2020

Over RM17k. I’ve never spent this much money within a month in my life. Two categories made up 80% of the total spending in August 2020: Wedding (44%) and Donations & Gifts. (36%)

What can I say? I guess I learned that (1) Wedding planning is expensive, even with drastically reduced guest count due to pandemic – thanks pandemic, (2) being a filial daughter is my obligation, I will do my best to fulfil financial expectations, and (3) having the money to do both without getting into debt is one of the biggest blessings one could ever have.

Still, I acknowledge I do experience financial anxiety, even without debt. I keep thinking of what I can do to increase my income so I can ‘replace’ that money, keep revisiting non-viable and previously dismissed business ideas. My head goes, what else can you do, Suraya? What else can you do?

It’s exhausting but nothing worth having is easy, ay?

31 ^st
August

Ranked: Lowest to Highest Return on Investment

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The classic investment advice says slow and steady wins the race, but all of us are hares. Whether you like it or not, we are attracted to BIG, FAST results. Despite knowing better, words like ‘highest return on investment’ and ‘highest growth investment’ *will* capture your attention.

Admit it. Even though we know that we should think long-term, all of us try to chase that sweet, fast high. And I think it’s okay to acknowledge that, because denial won’t do any of us good.

On an individual level, yes we’re greedy and impatient. But also on a societal level, we’ve also been conditioned to think that fast growth=better. You can see this mentality all over:

Bursa Malaysia ranks stocks by ‘top gainers’ and ‘top losers’.
The default search for unit trusts is by in FundSupermart (now FSMOne) is by ‘Best Performing Funds’ based on 1-month(!!) period.
Property investors are advised to factor in property rental rate growth, the higher the better.
When gold prices soared, *more* people bought more of it, causing a self-fulfilling prophecy.
And more

26 ^th
August

Link Roundup #58: 10 Things to Know This Week

Posted by Suraya - 2 Comments

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 🙂

1. Universal basic income seems to improve employment and well-being – New Scientist

Results of the world’s most comprehensive universal basic income test came out, and to no one’s surprise, it resulted in ‘better financial well-being, mental health and cognitive functioning, as well as higher levels of confidence in the future.’

The most important line to me is this one:

The findings suggest that basic income doesn’t seem to provide a disincentive for people to work.

Side note: I wrote a dystopian short story exploring how Malaysia would look like with UBI implementation. It’s not particularly a happy story, but you can read it in Money Stories from Malaysians: Volume 1 book. Purchase here.

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