ABCs of Personal Finance
Are you investing in your children for YOUR future?
Are you saving for your children’s education in the future? Children’s future is our responsibility. What about our future? I read an interesting article about
Are you saving for your children’s education in the future? Children’s future is our responsibility. What about our future? I read an interesting article about
Yes, I am as curious as all the EPF members who’s waiting to know how much dividend they will get. Guessing game will end on Saturday it seems. Today, many media outlets are reporting that the announcement will be this Saturday. Saturday is 28th February 2026. Yes, that’s like 24 hours away from the time this article is posted. An image showing what these media outlets are saying is here:
When someone retires and realized they have hundreds of thousands in their EPF which is suddenly theirs to use, what do you think could happen? Well, they could spend it wisely and stretch it sufficiently to cover for the next 15-20 years of their retirement life. Or they could spend it very quickly to buy things which they could not afford previously. Or maybe they could be scammed by someone and lose it all too.
How’s my ringgit doing versus the few ASEAN / major countries we love to compare? Baht is still stronger if we look at 5-year movement
The Employees Provident Fund (EPF) is expected to declare a dividend rate of between 6.3% and 6.5% for 2025, according to Bank Muamalat Malaysia Bhd chief economist Afzanizam Rashid.
Whatever number is forecasted, it’s usually an average. So, some people get higher (maybe they are in a more generous organization, maybe their skill is niche, maybe their industry is growing etc) and some people may get lower salary increase. (maybe the skills are too general, maybe they are in the wrong company, maybe the industry they are working is no longer growing). Some countries may have a lower number because their currency is already very strong, anything too high for just a few years will make them very uncompetitive in the long run.
Have you used it thus far? SARA for All. Anyway, honestly, free money is always welcomed. I am of the opinion that any assistance must be as targeted as possible but again, if it’s given to all, I will gladly say thank you. As per news across all media, RM100 is now made available via MyKad (Yes, this is definitely the best way versus any other ways). Yes, if the family has 4 adults, they will receive RM400 in total. Just need to note that this is different from SARA Assistance. Read on for the news:
If you are an expat here in Malaysia, thanks for coming here and share your expertise and experience and at the same time bringing up Malaysians to be as amazing as you in the future. Many, many, many years ago when I was speaking to a Senior HR Manager in manufacturing, he told me that he could easily attract expats to come to Malaysia because he told the expat that they will be offered a similar pay but the quality of their living would be 4 times better simply because they would be staying here. Bigger property, more ASEAN vacations and not needing to look at the menus before entering the usual restaurants here in Malaysia.
After this huge number, the next one would be child Care / anything which is children related would be at the second place. Then, the third could be Food and Beverage. My Proton Persona (manual) is fully paid for 10 years ago while my wife’s Alza is in the 2nd year. So, I only pay instalment for Alza today and this is why the car installment is smaller than F&B. How is this compared to the situation in the US? Take a look at the below on how price changes have affected them.
DATA: RENTERS’ WEALTH GAP REACHED RM5,000 LAST YEAR; JOHOR GETS BIGGEST GAINS Kuala Lumpur, 27 January 2026 — There’s a wealth gap in the property
Maybe this is also because I do not own the latest handphone model… I do not try to show off with a non-national car brand which is suffocating me financially every month… After 30 years of paying for a property, I no longer needed to pay rental… plus I have more than 1 property and I could sell that extra property for funds which I could use for anything of my heart’s desire? This is why I do believe I do not wish to touch EPF savings which receives very healthy dividends every year.
In 1999, I had to pay tax for the 2nd year and it was even higher than the year before. So I told my mum that I feel it’s unfair to pay ever higher tax. My mum said that if I do not wish to pay ever higher taxes, then I need to ensure I do not earn ever higher salaries. Whoops. Haha. That was the time when I decided I want to pay ever higher taxes as long as I earn ever higher salaries. This is why I believe tax and death are the two things no one can ever run away from. Remember to stay as healthy as possible so that we can continue to enjoy what we want to do. Coming back to the tax topic.