Financial Literacy, Enlightenment and Wisdom

1.      I hope fans of my writing should notice by now that though I read a lot, any genre that catch my eyes and heart, finance is always the top of the list. How a person who has been groomed to be an engineer since the secondary school could change 180 degree to finance?

2.      It is all started in my great years as student leader in UNITEN. I was given the responsibility to steer Persatuan Pembimbing Rakan Sebaya (PRS) UNITEN for a year by the members. At that time, I was shocked and surprised by the election result. Then, I happened to know that my friends from the previous year administration really lobby for me for the top seat.

3.      Well, the journey started. However, I started to have different opinion on how the society should operate. At that time, I realized I have to become better and knowledgeable. I started to read a lot, seek counsel from professional and UNITEN’s management lecturers on how I can improve the operational aspect of PRS UNITEN.

4.      Slowly I instilled Corporate Governance element in the society. I admit, it was not an easy task. Getting the buy-in from my senior management team and also the former leadership of the organization. They had some reservation and concerns that this modernization might change the society into different entity entirely.

5.      Alhamdulillah, although some of my senior management team opposed the idea, but the ordinary members received it very well and they liked it. Using their power as members, they managed to persuade those who oppose the plan and slowly I have to persuade them to buy-in to the concept.

6.      That year, I found out that, the strongest argument one can made to support his idea or opinion is numbers i.e money, projection, cost, revenue and so on. The buy-in process was a success because we started to use these numbers as basis for our programs and demands to the Management of UNITEN. Therefore, I concluded at that time, these financial number/metrics really powerful. It will help somehow, leaders to be focused and being objective

7.      Another reason my re-direction is I don’t like myself to be not knowing on something. When I read newspapers, magazine related to leadership, business and even the public sector, these financial metrics and numbers keep popping up. Look at the back of business section of any newspaper, tables and numbers of closing share prices for investor’s references. I felt uneasy and unrest. I don’t like myself in the state of ignorance. I know these number are important. Therefore I must do something.

8.      So, I enrolled into MBA program after I spent a year and half as Officer in Arkib Negara Malaysia. I decided to do it part-time, whereby I attend evening classes after working hours for 20 months. I love everything about UNIRAZAK and MBA, particularly Corporate Finance. Finally, I found my niche, my talent, my passion and my forte. I know this course will bring me to greatness, In Shaa Allah.

9.      Now, I have my sight for Public Finance. I believe Public Finance knowledge is essential for all Malaysian, especially the Youth. Alhamdulillah, my professor and my mentor at Treasury always provide me with notes, advices and support for me to be a Public Finance literate. Terms like GDP, National Debt, Sovereign Ratings, Revenue, Expenditure (Operational & Development) Budget, Budget Process, Tax (Direct & Indirect), Fiscal Policy, Fiscal Consolidation and so on are currently on the top of my reading lists.

10.   I wish, I could be a better citizen and share my opinions and knowledge for the betterment of Malaysian, especially the Youth. I would like to advocate more Youth to become financial literate, so that they will in a better position to manage their financial and subsequently they will help, indirectly to make our Nation better. I hope I can help them in understanding all this financial stuffs so that they can achieve ENLIGHTENMENT and WISER in their decision making, including to vote who is going to become the Government in the next general election.

Why I Decided on Joining (Hopefully) 'Parlimen Belia/ Praktikal Idealis'

As-salamualaikum and Good Day,

1. In the past few days, I received a considerable amount of enquiry regarding my candidacy for Parlimen Belia Malaysia. Some wishes to know who am I and others wanted to know why I finally decided to be the front man in politics. Most of them asked on what are my central idea for the Youth and my so called “manifesto”.

2. I am very grateful for the questions and I hope I could answer all and gave all of you some sort of confidence in me and my candidacy.

3. My previous post describes very leisurely about who I am. It describes my academic credentials and professional experience. It serves as basis that I am a normal citizen of Malaysia and I am just one of you, I have a normal job, a family and friends. I enjoy movies, reading and a good time of Teh Tarik with your bestfriends.

4. Referring to the questions, I decided to run for this election because I feel now I have all the capacity and capability to contribute back to the society, in particular youth. As you all probably know now, the Youth now are facing issues like rising cost of living, employment, housing and recognition.

5. Previously, I wanted to help, but I don’t have the sufficient knowledge and expertise. I don’t want myself to be put in the state of emotional and ignorance when I fight certain issues. I believe in the power of knowledge and how it can enlighten one’s vision, so that we are well informed and made wise decision. I feel, in order to win in our struggle, one must understand the “game” and how the “people” operates.

6. Therefore, in the last 5 years, I enrolled in MBA program and equipped myself to become a good Management Accountant with CIMA. Furthermore, I listed myself in both public and private sector, in order me to better understand the dynamics of these two very different entities. I’ve also a part-time management lecturer in Rawang, a career that made me close to Youth, specifically the student.

7. Now, I feel myself in a better position, on a better plane to contribute. I registered myself as voters for Parlimen Belia at the earlier stage. Armed with specific knowledge and experience, I vow to educate, train and enlighten our Youth. I would like to leverage on my capacity & capability, to help them to understand the issues. I hope I could provide them with an insight of what is on the table for them. Be it the Government or the Opposition ideas, I hope I could enlighten the Youth in making informed decision that might affecting their life. With that insight, together we scrutinize and seek a better position for the Youth from the authorities

8. As a candidate for Selangor, I understand the Youth situation in the richest state in Malaysia. With great cities like Kuala Lumpur, Shah Alam, Putrajaya, Ampang and Subang Jaya, issues like cost of livings, housing, employment and the rest, are monumental to the Youth. I have several ideas on how we could do this together. I will share in details during the course of this campaign. I hope this post answer your doubt, or at least cast a little or a spark of confidence in me. 

A MAN JUST LIKE YOU, A FRIEND FOR YOU

Malaysia : Youth & bankruptcy

     1.      Last night, I decided to invite my personal Think Tank to discuss and come out with viable solutions for the issue of bankruptcy. It is a known fact to all Malaysia, regardless age, income and social groups, that we have an alarming rate of bankruptcy among Malaysian in particular the Youth.

      2.      Yes, I forgot to share your with you that I have a group of talents for this campaign. They are my closest friends, confidants and advisers. They hail from many sectors and industries, such as Oil & Gas, Financial Institutions, Power and Utilities, Human Resource Practitioner, Airline & Aviation, Government & Public Policy, Telecommunication, Automotive and even Student Leader.

     3.      Our discussion last night, aimed to find out the root cause of this problem. According to the survey conducted by The Consumer Research and Resource Centre (CCRC) on the financial behavior of 1000 Malaysians aged 18-35 living in urban area, they found out that 50% of young Malaysians are in “serious debt” (debt payments amount 30% or more of their Gross Income). They study also shows that they pay and average of RM 932 on housing loans, RM 619 on car loans, RM 199 on study loans and RM 391 on insurance payments. In total, they pay over RM 2,100 per month.

      4.      65% of them earn less than RM 3,000 per month and the usage of credit cards every month is on average of RM 702. In addition to the data, my Think Tank highlighted that the Nielsen’s global survey found that less than 50% of Malaysian settle their credit card bills in full every month. The finding also shows that compared to other Asian nations, Taiwan at 89% and Japan at 87%, we the Malaysian have the habit of prolonging the debt payment and seems like less care of the interest charges.

      5.      One of my friends, highlighted that the Malaysia’s preference to long term loan is high compared to our neighbors like Indonesia. In Indonesia, standard car loans period is 5 years, whereas we settle at 9 years.

      6.      Despite all the data provided, we also must acknowledge that we are very much different than our ASEAN peers. We have to look at our Income growth per capita and also the state’s economic conditions. Is our economy robust and growing so that jobs could be created and price of goods & services manageable?

      7.      We don’t want to ponder into the area of macroeconomic too much. I believe most will find lots of headache if we put lots of stock in discussing the macroeconomic, with all the terms and tools. Therefore let us go for the PRACTICALITY of the issue. Shall we?

     8.      In the heated discussion, we conclude that one must be discipline when it comes to personal finance. It is a logical and accepted way of thinking that we spend only what are needed by ourselves and family. I understand the dilemma of the Youth such as Peer Pressure, Family Expectations and a Lust for Luxury. Once I faced the dilemma heads on. The pressure to provide the best for our family risen exponentially when we decided to get married and obviously the expectation of in-laws also needs to be counted.

       9.      I think, it is the time we focus on educating and exposing our Youth on personal finance. I know, Youth especially the Bumiputera, have low appreciation of finance knowledge. I met many friends of mine, who thinks taking debt, be it personal or credit card, is a norm and notion like “Gali Lubang Besar (Baru), Tutup Lubang Lama” is like a mantra. They don’t know what is compound interest and good payback scheme and in the end will be sucked deep into debt like a quicksand.

  

     10.   We must advocate INVESTING and SAVINGS as a norm among the Youth in Malaysia. We must expose to our Youth the benefits they can enjoy if they put more attention in savings. In our local financial system scene, we have many investment opportunities and instruments. Most of the investment banks and firms already rolled out Syariah-Compliant products. Not to mention, our nation’s traditional investment tools like Tabung Haji and ASB. However, try your best not to use Debt to finance your ASB. When you look at it, even PNB announced for 8-9% return, you probably ended up with just a little above the inflation rates of 3.5% return. So invest and save wisely.

      11.   I saw from the weekly newspaper, The Edge Malaysia, an advertisement of 2014, The Edge Kuala Lumpur rat race, a charity awareness corporate run, where you will see CEOs of top corporate Malaysian firms and their staffs, run to promote healthy lifestyle and raise funds the The Edge Education Foundation, aimed to promote financial literacy and improve the command of English among Malaysian. Hopefully capital raised will be properly distributed to the target groups.

  

 12.   As for the Youth or Malaysian, who are actually in bankruptcy status or having financial problems, please make use of the Agensi Kaunseling dan Pengurusan Kredit (AKPK)( http://www.akpk.org.my/)  to the max. Do not be shy or ashamed of your situation. Debt is good to increase value of your life, however, uncontrolled debt taking, bad discipline in managing it, it will slowly ruin your life and your family. We can’t run away from debt, honestly. But we can prudently manage it and slowly change our lifestyle into a responsible one. 

INVEST and SAVE. 

BE DISCIPLINE in YOUR PERSONAL FINANCE

http://www.akpk.org.my/learning/articles-and-tips/id/1344/infographic-bankruptcy-in-malaysia--a-reality-check