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Are you an EPF member who withdraw money out for investment scheme? Then, this is a very important news to you. Effective January 2014, the minimum basic savings required in Account 1 was revised upward. This will affect all of YOU who withdrawn certain amount from EPF account 1 for eligible investment purpose. Higher limit means lesser money you can withdraw from EPF in the future. How much will be increased? Based on the chart below, the percentage increased can be as high as 64%. Generally, the increasing amount was at least 50% once you're age 27 onward. How to calculate how much can I withdrawn from EPF account 1? What's the different or impact? Depending on your age and how much savings in account 1, the impact varies by members. For better explanation, please see example below: Finance Malaysia hopes this post can enlighten you on EPF members investment scheme withdrawal. You may share this to your friends. Thanks.

By TA Securities, We believe 1H13 will be a choppy period and election concerns could drag down the FBM KLCI by 8% to 10% in the period before market rebounds in the 2H13. The impetus for revival will mainly hinge on the end of election overhang and strong domestic demand. Sustained monetary easing on the back of low inflationary pressure and attempts to reduce budget deficits by cutting subsidies and channeling the savings to productive ventures are positive despite the short-term impact on earnings. Overall, domestic economy will play an integral role in sustaining confidence in domestic equities next year in the absence of any overwhelming micro drivers. Corporate earnings for 9M12 were less robust and we forecast full year earnings growth for the FBM KLCI to be 9.4% only. Chances of a strong revival in the immediate-term are minimal based on external sentiment and dwindling demand in key export markets. Our earnings growth forecast of 8% and 8.4% for CY13 and CY14 is not compelling...

This is one of the common question asked by potential PRS contributors. First, I want to emphasis that PRS is a long-term investment for the purpose of retirement planning . In investment case, long-term means you already using the most powerful method to reap a good return. Anyway, many contributors still want to treat PRS as some kind of short-term investment. I got the answer for you. Basically, PRS is very similar to unit trust investment. The underlying structure and investment philosophy were the same actually. No wonder many people perceived PRS is another unit trust scheme. Yes, you're correct to a certain extent. Under the guidelines, each PRS providers must at least launched their core funds for investors to select, namely Growth , Moderate and Conservative . To make things simple, we only discussed these core funds because I believe most of us only invest in core funds.  From these core funds, growth fund is the most aggressive one. In other words, the most risky one, w...

According to Securities Commission of Malaysia, tax incentives are provided to both employers and individuals for the first 10 years from assessment year 2012 ; in addition to the tax deduction permitted for EPF contributions: Amount of Tax Savings by individuals for PRS contributions For Individual: Tax relief of up to RM3,000 per year will be given for contributions made within that year. This is on top of existing tax relief already enjoyed by taxpayers. How much can you save from tax? Let's look at the table above which illustrates the amount of tax saving an individual get after personal tax relief and RM6,000 EPF + Life Insurance tax relief. Assuming maximum RM3,000 PRS relief, the amount of tax saving depends on your level of income. For high tax bracket individual, you can save up to RM780 annually!!! For Employer: Tax deduction on contributions to PRS made on behalf of their employees above the statutory rate of up to 19% of employees' remuneration was granted. Exam...

Many people are still in the dark on how actually Private Retirement Scheme (PRS) works. In order to clear  everyone's  mind, we hope this post was timely for those who may want to entitle for extra tax relief of up to RM 3,000 given by PRS before 31st December 2012. To further explain the whole scheme, Finance Malaysia Blog was glad that Alex Yeoh, a licensed financial planner is able to share with us on this matter. By Alex Yeoh, First we must know that PRS is a voluntary scheme for the purpose of retirement saving.  For ease of understanding, let us look at the picture above which explain the process into two parts. Initially, contributions were made by us into the PRS fund that we select. It was as flexible as  normal unit trust investments (shown in upper part). Contribute anytime any amount  as you like ,  without any specific intervals. As simple as that. When can I withdraw the money? Each time, your contributions were split and maintained in sub-...

Below is the 10 key achievements highlighted by CEO of Pemandu, that demonstrates the positive inroads of the ETP: Projects will be implemented within the 12 focused National Key Economic Areas (NKEA) and also implement 51 Strategic Reform Initiatives (SRI) to ensure competitiveness will flourish. Whilst Malaysia's GNI per capita was only US$6,700 in 2009, it grew dramatically by 45% in 2011. (Target is US$15,000 by 2020) GDP grew by 5.3% year-to-date. This is significant, considering Singapore's growth of only 1.3% while neighboring countries recorded the following GDP growth: Thailand 3.0% South Korea 1.6% Taiwan 1.0% Hong Kong 1.3% Economy continues to grow to reach new GDP and GNI records in 2011, with Government achieved its highest revenue in history with RM185 billion in 2011, allowing the Government to implement many programmes, including those under GTP such as BRIM1 and BRIM2. Private investment continues to achieve robust growth. As of Sept 2012, private inv...

Although EPF members investment scheme was launched years ago, yet many Malaysians still do not know the existence of it. Follow by next question: "How to calculate the withdrawal amount?". Hope this post can give all of you an insight on this matter. First, we must know that EPF members investment scheme only allows eligible members to withdraw eligible amount to EPF-approved investment schemes. The schemes was being monitor closely by EPF authorities, by reviewing it every year, in order to protect the interest of EPF members. Am I eligible? Members can withdraw up to 20% of access amount from the minimum required Basic Saving in Account ONE. The minimum amount for each withdrawal is RM1,000. Sounds confusing, right? Let's explore it step-by-step. Step 1: Determine the age (what is your celebrated last birthday?) Step 2: Determine the required Basic Saving in Account 1. Step 3: Determine your Current Saving in Account 1 . Step 4: Applying the formula : (Account 1 - Ba...

After the successful launching of Gold Investment account, Maybank had come out with another innovative option for mass market --- Silver Investment Account . This would be part of its portfolio of precious materials being offered to consumers. Yes, Maybank was the 1st bank in Malaysia to offer a silver investment passbook account, allowing deposits and withdrawals in silver at a daily price in ringgit at any of its branches nationwide. How about the return? Of course, it all depend on the silver price fluctuations. For ease of recording and maintenance, all the transactions would be recorded in the customer's passbook . It's simple, transparent and affordable. More about "Silver Investment Account" Who can apply? Individuals aged 18 years and above Joint account - maximum 4 persons Key Features of Maybank Silver Investment Account: Benefits: A great way to increase the degree of portfolio diversification A better security against inflating economies It is convenient...

There are numerous interest scheme being offered to public to participate for the past few years. It heats up when investors are looking to various instruments to grow their money after the 2008 global financial crisis. But, before we participate in those scheme, are we really fully understand what is Interest Scheme? Interest Scheme is a way of doing business in Malaysia. Interest Scheme involves the pooling of financial contribution from the public in exchange for an interest in a particular scheme. Such interest includes the usage of the facilities and services provided under the scheme or profit or returns, depending on the nature of the scheme. Rules and Regulations Promoter of an interest scheme must register the scheme with SSM before it can be offered to the public. The sale of interest is governed by the provision of Division 5 of Part IV of the Companies Act. The promoter of an interest scheme is also required to comply with the Policy Guidelines and Requirements iss...

Investment professionals love complicating things. Trust me on that. I was once like that. You don’t believe me? The next time you meet people from the investment industry, try asking them to give you a definition of the word “risk”. Investopedia defines “risk” as “the chance that an investment’s actual return will be different than expected...risk is usually measured by the standard deviation of the historical/average return of a specific investment.”   Don’t get me wrong. This is actually a pretty good definition of "risk”... that is if you speak finance. But most people don’t, and if you are like most people, you probably struggled to understand even the first sentence (actual return vs expected return...huh?). Good luck attempting to measure risk! Then, what does RISK mean? Complicated definitions aside, many investment professionals define “risks” consistent with the above definition i.e. in terms of “ uncertainty ” (or “volatility...

Lately, I have a long-lost friend calling me out for a drink. Without hesitation, I am more than happy to meet up with him, a successful businessman. Well, we started off with very casual conversation from politic to investment. Yes, investment is my all-time favorite topic and he knew it. Once my hot button was pressed, he share with me the Genneva Gold Investment Scheme . With its headquarter situated at Kuchai Entrepreneurs Park, Genneva has evolved to become one of the leading and most innovative gold traders in Malaysia and neighboring countries. What I want to stress here is INNOVATIVE . Why? Please read on... About the Scheme Through Genneva's unique wealth sharing platform, you are not only the owner of the gold bullion in hand, you also will get 1.8-2.5% cash return ( hibah ) every month for 3 months under Genneva's Syariah principle-based product plan. (see picture below) It is similar to placing your savings in Fixed Deposit. Whether the price of gold goes up or do...

Today, gold is becoming an ever important asset class in the world. Banks nationwide is offering investors the opportunity to invest in gold, whether it is for capital preservation or capital gain. How well you diversify without investing in gold? This is the question being asked by those already investing in gold, and most of them already making profit out of it. But, is it really so different? Is it really a must have asset class? History of Gold Gold has been used for numerous monetary functions long long time ago, especially in China. Ancient people used gold as a form of currency and storage of wealth. By using gold as a medium to which paper currency was pegged, most modern international monetary systems were created since then. What drives up Gold price? The modern gold rush scenario happened since 2008 global financial crisis, driven by extremely low deposits rate on cash, very volatile equity markets and surging inflation . Negative real value of money is the key factor why m...

So far, equity markets are down anywhere between 10-20% and bond yields in a number of major markets are reaching historic lows. Although it is difficult and nerve racking, investors should understand some of the forces behind what's creating this volatility and how they're likely to play out in the near term. When will market rebound? Again, we simply cannot answer that million-dollar question. If I know, I won't be writing this article here telling you all stories and facts. We should have a longer term view, especially during volatile times when fears dominating the marketplace. So, what are some of the driving forces behind? If we go back to basics, the 4 components that really drive economic growth are Government, Consumer, Corporate, Import & Export. If we look at each individually, we can do better opinion, by analyzing them. Government : Since 2008, governments have played an increasingly dominant role in the markets that we're familiar with. They are exp...