Link Roundup #13: 10 Things to Know This Week

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. Report: Rising household expenditure driven by food inflation – MalaysiaKini and Research: Malaysian households earning RM2,000 may have only RM76 left after expenses – The Malay Mail

Different headlines by different news publications reporting from the same source – ‘The State of Households 2018: Different Realities‘ report by Khazanah Research Institute.

There are lots of data inside both articles, but here’s what you need to know: the poor spend a much bigger portion of their income on expenses, leaving them without much safety buffer (if any) for emergencies.

With Budget 2019 coming up, I expect lots of financial support given to this income group (as it should).

2. Renovation Log – How I Saved in Curtain Purchase – RinggitVelvet

Sharing an article from a new Malaysian personal finance blogger! Really enjoyed the writeup on how she researched and saved money on getting custom curtain sewing and installation done for her rental home. Bookmark this link the whole website if you’re into doing rental property as passive income strategy.

3. Cheap is Great but Free Will Cost You – Bloomberg

Subheading: Whenever a company offers something at no charge, that means the price is hidden and out of sight.

I agree. When it comes to finance, there *is* no such thing as free lunch. I know this.

But why am I still so attracted to that word? How do I resist ‘free’ in marketing and sales copies? Any ideas?

4. Costs of Mental Health Treatment in Malaysia – I’m Funemployed

Great article listing:

• mental health treatment options available in Malaysia
• their respective costs
• and their pros/cons

There are options for face-to-face therapy (individual and group), phone hotline, online support groups and tech-assisted methodologies.

You know yourself better than anyone. If you need help – what’s stopping you?

5. 9 Questions To Always Ask Before You Accept A New Job, According To HR Managers – Bustle

The questions are:

• “How Long Do I Have To Accept The Offer?”
• “What Are The Core Working Hours?”
• “Does The Salary Package Include Any Benefits?”
• “Is The Salary Negotiable?”
• “How Can I Make An Impact In This Job?”
• “Are There Opportunities For Growth?”
• “What Are The Company’s Values/Mission?”
• “How Will My Success As An Employee Be Evaluated?”

Click the link to read why the questions are important.

6. 6 Routine Mistakes People Make When Setting Up a Dropshipping Online Store – Entrepreneur 

Like everyone and their grandmothers, I kind of considered setting up a dropshipping online store. Making money without keeping inventory or dealing with packaging and delivery *does* sound appealing. It seems like an easy way to make money.

That’s why I enjoyed reading this article so much. I didn’t even know those are considered mistakes! If I did dabble in the dropshipping business, I’d have made them too!

7. Only 55% of Malaysians pay their bills on time, says AKPK – The Edge Market

…which is 25% below world average..

We are so bad at this that AKPK (Agensi Kaunseling dan Pengurusan Kredit) literally just launched the ‘Pay-On-Time’ Campaign..

According to this Focus Malaysia article, the campaign:

• Will ‘share a series of informative but fun content throughout a period of 8 weeks ending 12 December 2018… that highlight the adverse consequences of late payments and even non-payments of credit card bills, personal loans, hire purchases, home loans plus how one’s CCRIS is affected by all this’
• Will ‘organise three (3) live quiz games via Malaysia’s first locally developed live streaming quiz app, LitLive… Money prizes of up to RM15,000 are up for grabs’
• Will use the hashtag #PayONTIME

They made two videos for the Pay-On-Time campaign (watch them here). Both of them feature husbands who didn’t pay bills on time, despite having wives who reminded them.

Honestly men are you not angry over being stereotyped as irresponsible husbands who need to be nagged all the time to be semi-competent in life?

8. A leaked email reveals why you can’t always trust Sephora product reviews – Vox

If you’re surprised by this, can I just say this is pretty tame in comparison to what other companies do to earn your trust online?

Personally, I’ve:

• Worked with a digital marketer who posed as a ‘real user’ and made a comparison chart reviewing the same type of product by various companies. Naturally, the best product is the company he represented
• Been approached by brands who want me to write sponsored posts but ‘please don’t tell the audience it was sponsored’
• Came across a popular aesthetic clinic which promised me beauty sessions if I signed an agreement agreeing to ‘no negative reviews’ (even reader reviews!) and that I’ll ‘automatically be their sales agent’ and will be bringing in clients in for them (I did not sign)
• Read fake product reviews in Lazada

Those of you in the PR/marketing/sales line. Can you share some shady practices you’ve witnessed in the industry? What did those companies do to manipulate customers into buy from them?

9. The Surprising Statistics Of Stock Market Corrections – Seeking Alpha

At the time of writing, I’m quite semangat to get into stocks, and reading all I can about the subject (which admittedly I know very little about). One thing I learned soon enough is that I should be prepared for stock market corrections.

So you can imagine how much I love this data-oriented article! For example:

“On any given day, stocks have roughly a 53 percent chance of rising and a 47 percent chance of falling. Over any given 3-month period, stocks rise 68 percent of the time, dropping the other 32 percent of the time. Over a typical 12-month period, the odds of making money in stocks rise to roughly 75 percent. However, if you are in the market for a long enough period of time, there is a 100 percent chance that you will experience temporary price declines at times.”

I also love that it covered whether or not you should wait to buy into pullbacks (dips in price). Spoiler: no. Buy and hold and diversify is the best strategy there is.

10. My appearance in Bbazaar Malaysia’s Let’s Talk About It!

Disclaimer: I was paid for this appearance #fulltransparency

Btw, the dress in the video? I got it in Japan for 972 yen, or roughly RM35. Found it on a sales rack, tried it on and damn son it was perfect.

There are two parts. Linking you part 2 because I look cuter in this thumbnail.

 

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That’s it for this round, catch you next time! Want to submit a link you thought was great? Reach out to me on FB or Twitter.

To read past link roundups, please click here.