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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...

Did you watch TV news just now? There is a good news for Malaysian who are looking for higher saving rate for their monies. Yes. I am talking about the fresh from oven 1Malaysia Amanah Rakyat scheme. The scheme was launched by Prime Minister, which aimed at helping those with a monthly household income of RM3,000 and below. Unlike the previous series, the new scheme was a hybrid of a unit trust investment and loan product, capable of generating a consistent cash flow or monthly income. It will be made available from Jan 30 . But, the best part is it comes with a Guaranteed return. Unbelievable? The limit is RM5,000 and it can be bought through savings or investment loans from selected financial institutions, such as Maybank, CIMB, RHB and BSN. Investors would get a guaranteed RM134 monthly and for those who borrow, they only need to pay RM84 a month and still get RM50 in profit. Too Good to be TRUE? Let's us calculate the return on investment. If investors fork out RM5,000 themsel...

Launched on 11th March 2011, RHB Dynamic Oil-Gold Capital Protected fund is investing in oil and gold, which have the potential to perform in both areas that have great bullish and bearish markets. This is a 3 years capital protected fund . As usual, it will invests at least 85% of the NAV in zero-coupon negotiable instruments of deposits. Meanwhile, up to 10% of the fund's NAV will invest in an over-the-counter (OTC) option that gave investors returns (if any). The OTC option will provide exposure to the performance of the Option Strategy, which is an index, maintained by the issuer of the OTC option and is subject to a dynamic risk adjustment linked to the realized volatility of the underlying. Option Strategy This Option Strategy is a rules-based strategy computed and developed by the option issuer / counterparty. It aims to tap into the growth of oil and gold through the use of a " momentum " based strategy to capture the trends of the Underlying and also, volatilit...

Once again, to address the affordability issues of properties, MyFirst Home Scheme (My1st) was launched by government on 8th March 2011. Thanks for addressing the problem faced by young Malaysians working adults. But, does it really worth to even think about the scheme? Of course, owning a house at young age is a good start to family planning. In fact, we're living in a society where buying a new house tights closely to starting a family. But, this is not necessary a MUST to everyone of us. We must do proper planning before committing for such a long-term loan with such huge amount. Buying a house is not buying an iPad or iPhone. Only apartments are likely with less than RM220,000 price tags in Klang Valley now Highlights of My First Home Scheme... For those earning less than RM3,000 monthly Working in private sector Confirmed employees with a minimum of 6 months in the job Joint applications are allowed (both in private sector and are family members) 100% loan financing for f...

Last year, Malaysia Automobile Association (MAA) reported a record number of cars sold. Are you one of them? If you're not in that statistic yet and planning to own a new car now, please read this post which could scare you away. In fact, petrol prices are heading up again since 2008 with prices of RON97 reviewing monthly. Without failed, the price of RON97 is going up consecutively for the past few months. Anyway, are you driving fuel-efficiency car like me? Despite that I am pumping RON95 petrol and driving the so called "fuel-efficiency" car, I still feel the pain of pumping money. Source: Malaysia Automobile Association What to do? If you don't eat, your car still have to " drink " ma. Uncertainties in Middle East is already spiking up oil prices globally. You think this is the worst for motorists like us? By "pouring oil on fire" (to make things even worse), government plans to gradually increase motor insurance premiums from 2012 onwards unde...

For the financial year ended 31 December 2010, Employees Provident Fund (EPF) announced a 5.8% dividend rate. This translates into RM21.61 billion, which is the highest dividend payout amount ever to members, an increase of 11.55% over the 2009 dividend payout of RM19.37 billion. For the year 2009, the dividend rate is 5.65%. "The remarkable investment income achieved in 2010 was especially driven by the performance of equity investments. The improved financial and economic conditions provided the market with sufficient liquidity, allowing profit taking activities throughout the year", said EPF chairman in statement issued. Who is the main contributor? Buoyed by a good year for the equities market, equities were the largest contributor to the EPF's gross investment income in 2010, representing 45.45% of EPF's total gross investment income. ( See Table 1 ) Source: EPF website During the year under review, EPF total investment assets also continued to register healt...

Recently, theStar highlighting a serious issue pertaining to insurance claims - Fraud Claims . It even started with staggering paragraph "Fingers have been chopped off, medical ailments exaggerated and even death faked - all for the purpose of fraudulent insurance claims". Among the issues: RM500 mil in bogus insurance claims are detected each year At least 2 insurance firms have folded as a result of high compensation claims compounded by fraud Insurance firms fight back by setting up special fraud detection units Regarding to this topic, Finance Malaysia would like to shares some views here pertaining to the effects on Malaysians as a whole. And, most importantly, the impact of insurer would definitely pass it to people insured. Why I said so? First, you must understand how insurance companies compute their premiums charged to each clients. If the insurer is financially stronger, it may charged a lower premium for the same amount of coverage on its policies. In other wor...

Effective 1 September 2010, there are 223 unit trust funds approved under the EPF Members Investment Scheme (EPF-MIS). The list of EPF approved funds is updated upon conducting the fund evaluation exercise based on EPF-MIS fund evaluation methodology (FEM). Under the FEM, funds must meet the set standard criteria, including:- At least 3-years track records Have investment mandate of not exceeding 30% in overseas assets Consistency in return performance among peers/ with benchmark How frequent will it be reviewed? By using an international research house rating data as input in the assessment and evaluation of funds, the exercise will be conducted once a year.  Suspended Funds? Funds that underperformed their peers will be suspended, until they are qualified to be reinstated. Suspended funds are not allowed to received new investment under the EPF-MIS, yet investments made by investors prior to the suspension are nevertheless allowed to remain in the funds. Suspended Funds are lo...

First Home Scheme was being introduced by the Government in Budget 2011 as below to encourage home ownership among Malaysians: Specially cater for first-time house buyers with monthly household income below RM 3,000 . 100% loan for houses priced below RM220,000. 50% stamp duty exemptions on instruments of transfer on houses below RM350,000. 50% stamp duty exemptions on loan agreement instruments on houses below RM350,000. To facilitate the 100% loan, Cagamas Bhd (national mortgage corporation) will provide guarantee on the 10% down-payment to eligible house buyers. Signals sent-out by Government: 1. Enabling first-time buyers to afford their first home. 2. Developers should build more houses which is affordable for such categories. Advise to first-time house buyers: 1. The securing of such a loan is still subject to how much the banker willing to lend you. 2. 100% loan means higher monthly repayment for borrower. 3. Always buy within your means , not because of such scheme. How a...