Finance Savvy or Fun Money

I don't call myself financial expert and I feel at this point in my life I am doing okay with my money and that, so far my money is working not as hard as it should be but at least it still beat inflation and some more.  What does this mean? Generally inflation is about ~3% annually, say if you have $1 today, by next year it will worth about $0.97.  Therefore the conventional way of saving like putting money under your mattress has been moot as long as I can remember.  Even putting your money in bank is doing much for you either. At a rate of 0.01% a year, well you can do better by shopping around.
I have been doing my own finance for years until recently, the abrupt wake up call happened when I have my children.  I need to do better, because I no longer doing this for myself, I need to make sure my kids is taken care of at least until they can take care of themselves later on (say in 15 years 😆)
When I was in Malaysia, I worked as a part time Public Mutual agent.  This was a wonderful experience, you learn how to manage your income and learn about all sort of financial vehicles available.  There are bond, equity, index, small cap, large cap, balance fund etc.  It was basic financial 101 but it's fund and help me to play with other people money for awhile without exposing me and my former clients much risk.  Mutual fund has lower risk compare to stocks as the risk was spread of 100 over stocks, at the end the risk is brought to a minimum.   I still kept some of my Public Mutual Funds.  I only sell one fund, which I feel a little regret as it actually made more than double the amount I have now.  But the rest is doing great, one of them is kinda lag a little for few years, but two of the equity funds are pulling everything else through making it a positive investments. If you are thinking which private company to invest in Malaysia, go for Public Mutual Berhad.  They are the first private owned company and won many fund performance awards for many years.  I no longer an agent as I have immigrated abroad but I still very much a satisfied customer.
Every year I will revisit my public mutual funds and noticed how much it grows, I wish I have invested more, I could have a little fortune waiting back in Malaysia if I do that.  You know what?  I can, hope my agent send me forms for EPF investment soon.  For anyone worry over the dip in the market, if you have years until your planned retired, go for dollar cost averaging.  Dollar cost averaging is investing small amount every month like $50-$100.  This is another way reduce your financial risk even more.
In the USA, the market spectrum is broader.  There are more options, there's tax implication to consider.  You even get tax when you die! 😖 But it is also quite easy to manage if you have a job that provide 401K. If your employer doesn't provide 401K, you should set something up for yourself, Roth IRA, IRA etc.  Company is currently working hard to keep exiting employee stay and enticing new ones by offering match in 401K.  Not a bad deal, there's not a lot of free stuffs nowadays.  ROTH IRA is also good as they are post tax and whatever we make out of it later on, you don't have to pay tax. Once retirement fund is set, you

Comments

Popular Posts