5 Best Places to Save Money in Malaysia, Ranked
I heard that y’all have a problem with spending your savings away, is that right? Despite your best intentions to save money, that company’s marketing campaign caught you at a bad time and there you are, nursing the most horrible buyer’s remorse.
Note that I didn’t name this article, Best Places to Invest Money in Malaysia. It’s Best Places to Save Money in Malaysia. Emphasis on saving money.
Therefore, all the options in this list MUST either be cash or can be quickly converted/sold into cash without losing much value. In investing-speak, we call this ‘liquid’.
(p/s – According to Google image search, ‘liquid investment’ is also a tap that drips dollar signs, coins and banknotes. I can confirm this depiction is 100% accurate.)
With that clarified, let’s go ahead and rank the best places to save money in Malaysia. The ranking order is decided by myself, but let me know if you have opinions – open to compelling arguments.
#1 – ASB
Personally, I use my ASB (Amanah Saham Bumiputera) as my primary out-of-reach savings account. Whenever I get extra money, I channel it there so I ‘forget’ about it. Whenever I have cashflow issues, I would withdraw money from the account, use it to make payments, then ‘reimburse’ myself at the next available opportunity.
Cashflow issue. Money that is supposed to come in haven’t come in yet. Had to withdraw from Asb to make pending payments. Ughhh stressnyaaaa
— Suraya Zainudin (@surayaror) September 10, 2019
Unfortunately, ASB is not available for non-Bumi. The next best alternative for non-Bumi is ASM, but that’s really hard to get.
ASB is a type of mutual fund/unit trust (technically considered different things, but used interchangeably in Malaysia). Other mutual funds/unit trusts are not good comparisons. They:
- Lock up your money until retirement – EPF and PRS (Private Retirement Scheme, kinda like secondary, optional EPF)
- Charge you a lot of fees. Many unit trusts and mutual funds will impose a combination of these 9 types of fees.
EDIT: Thanks Wan for reminding about Tabung Haji, which is usually used by Muslims to save money for hajj, but is open to anyone from any religion. Withdrawal fee to bank accounts is just RM1 (if Maybank, not sure of other banks).
#2 – High-interest savings account
In addition to #1, you can make use of high-interest savings account offered by various banks to keep your money.
The money in there is not really locked away – a blessing and a curse tbh. If you find yourself ‘dipping’ into your own savings account too often, then may I suggest you to:
- Open an account with another bank and hide the debit card
- Use other methods in this list
But otherwise, many people find high-interest savings accounts a good financial tool for saving money. Some people open separate savings accounts for:
- Marriage fund
- Car fund
- Travel fund
- Fun fund
- And more
Which high-interest savings account to get? Suyin here gives 3 options, up to 3.25% per annum.
Personally I use the Maybank2u Saver account. Only because I’m an existing Maybank user and I’m lazy to open accounts in other banks, but it’s pretty good. Every month I get a little bit of money just for keeping extra funds in there.
#3 – Fixed deposit
The third best place to save money in Malaysia, IMO is fixed deposits or FDs. It’s funny because here, ‘locking up’ your money and not being able to access it for a time period is not a bug, its a feature. If you need a financial tool that will PENALISE you for taking out your own money before the contract ends, then FDs is for you.
Selecting one is super easy. You can use financial comparison platforms to make comparisons. Ideally you want the one that offers the highest interest rates, but bear in mind how long you’re locking your money for, and the minimum deposit you need.
iMoney makes it easy to find Islamic FDs too. You can just enable the button in the red box, the one that says ‘Show Islamic Products Only’
EDIT: In June 2020, Stashaway launched a new product called Stashaway Simple, which is not-really-but-kinda-sorta-like a fixed deposit BUT WITH NO WITHDRAWAL RESTRICTIONS
#4 – Gold
I wouldn’t have included gold here as an option if not from this contribution by Sams, in the 4 Things You Can Do If You Need Money URGENTLY in Malaysia article.
Sams said:
Sams – (I would) take my gold bar – purposely bought for emergency situation like this – to Ar-Rahnu. With them, I’m able to get a loan worth 60%~70% from the the current market gold price. They charge 0.07% per month in fees (note: fees may vary).
I’ve done this a lot when I need to renew car insurance, repair car breakdown, cover medical bills and more. By using Ar-Rahnu or pawnshop service, always try to redeem your gold as fast as possible, to avoid more charge (‘upah simpan’). The good thing about this method, you are able to get your gold back once you redeem it thus maintaining your asset.
Example calculation: 10g gold bar 10g x RM190 x 60% = RM1140 | Fees – RM1140 x 0.7% = RM7.98 per month
Otherwise, keeping gold *on top* of #1, #2 and #3 is not a bad idea too. If you happened to buy your gold at a good time, then you’d make a nice profit when you sell it. Not guaranteed, but there is that excitement.
Gold savings or gold investment is… a bit polarising, in my observation. People either love it or hate it. Read up my various articles on gold investment if you’re interested in it, I’m not trying to change anyone’s mind.
Personally, I love the experience of owning gold. Like many people, I bought some gold with the ‘trader’ mentality – heard that gold prices went up from the news and just wanted to make a quick buck. Over time, it prepared me for price flunctuations and taught me how demand/supply works in the world market.
If it weren’t for gold, I wouldn’t be brave enough to dip my toes in higher-risk, higher-rewards investments like stocks and even crypto. But that’s just me.
#5 – Keeping foreign currencies
And last but not least, you can also keep your extra money in other country’s notes. Especially ‘valuable’ ones like the US Dollar, Euro, Japanese Yen and British Pounds.
How it works is simple: simply keep them somewhere safe. If you need the cash, you can simply go to money exchangers and convert them foreign notes back to RM. If you’re good at macroeconomics luck is to your favour, the USD you kept may have strengthen against the RM.
(You can compare rates from different money exchangers online. Try and avoid banks as their exchange rates are not the best)
#6 – Keep your money in cash
People steal.
Once, I witnessed a young woman breaking down at an LRT station after she was informed her room was broken into and all her savings were gone. You probably have experienced this yourself, or know someone who had their money stolen this way.
I did, too, when I was younger. Hid some money in my room. It was stolen by my own family member.
(I’m embarassed to admit I used to steal my mom’s money as well. Mak, Aya minta maaf!)
Please be careful when you save money with methods #4 (Gold), #5 (Foreign currencies) and in cash (RM). Please keep them safe, or avoid them totally, especially if you live in a high-crime area. Use the other methods in this list.
Where would YOU save your money?
Are there any other good places to save money in Malaysia? Which methods do YOU personally use to save your money? Do you double up your savings with investment, like I did with ASB? Do you have bad experience with any of these methods? Do you agree or disagree with the ranking?
Let me know in the comments section, I’d love to hear from you!
I personally only do #1 (ASB). It’s the first thing I do every payday so that I don’t overspend. Other methods seem interesting too though I don’t like putting my money all over the place. Hard to keep track and more fees/charges. That’s just me tho 🙂
hi ! wondering if you think its a good idea to put in tabung haji as well ? and where would tabung haji be categorised under ?
Hi Wan,
Yeah I guess TH works too! Have edited in the article. Thanks so much for reminding!
thank you for crediting me , what an honour ! :’)
Btw suraya , your blog has been amazing especially to those who are still new to personal finances. I always recommend your blogs to my peers if they wanna learn about personal finances / investments / etc.
In a way , the way you share your content is more relatable to us , and I appreciate that !
I do have a question tho , I see a lot of people going into the stock market sector and I saw in your previous articles that you’re not involved in stocks that much. Is there any particular reasons why ? 🙂
ASB is so hard for non-bumi to invest in, it is like queuing up infront of Target for Black Friday sales.
Hi Jeff,
Yes, that’s true. Yet many still don’t take advantage of it and fall to ponzi schemes because of financial illiteracy and trusting the wrong community leaders (ustads, teachers). It makes me angry
Hi Suraya,
Do you know if there is any safety assurance and protection from fraud for such robo-advisory platforms? Thanks!
Hi Ng,
I don’t know exactly how it works, but in order to market to Malaysians, these companies must satisfy BNM and SC’s strict requirements. Can find out the requirements in respective websites
That being said, nothing is 100% foolproof, and a healthy sense of scepticism is always good, so they can enhance consumer protection 🙂
Hey, Suraya!
I’ve recently heard of you from your interview on BFM.
I am using SSPNi for my emergency fund. May I know your opinion on saving in SSPNi please?
Cheers
Hi Allison,
https://www.ptptn.gov.my/pengeluaran-penutupan-akaun-sspn-i-side
PTPTN website in link above states that you can withdraw funds from SSPNi anytime, so I guess yeah you can use it as emergency funds, in theory.
I’m not sure if there are any, but I feel like there’s a catch somewhere, despite that link. After all SSPNi is devised and marketed as a financial tool for parents to save for their children’s education
edit: I found this article that states you must wait at least 3 years before you can withdraw the money out? https://therohani.com/cara-keluarkan-duit-sspn/
I think the 3 years clause is inaccurate. I did take out my kid’s one after a few months to invest elsewhere..
thank you for the useful feedback!
Is this a good idea to keep money/ invest if we open a foreign currency saving account? My friend opened 1 at HSBC.
Based on what I read, that’s not a bad idea, as a diversification strategy. Especially if you’re bearish on MYR. Be careful of their conversion rates and T&Cs though. I’m not familiar with foreign currency rates