Dividend Magic

Saving and Investing towards Financial Independence in Malaysia

FI/RE

Dividend Magic’s Yearly Review

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Filed Under: FI/RE, Financial Independence, Investment Portfolio 0

The Year 2020

I’ll be using this anchor page to keep track of my overall investment portfolio. Updated yearly so I’ll be able to track and show a yearly gain/loss.

Moving forward, I’ll aim to keep my recording simple and clear cut. So I’ll be able to track my yearly gain more easily. No more IRR, just simple yearly gain, including fresh capital and dividends reinvested.

What a year it has been. My portfolio tanked in March when Covid hit. It even went into the red, a first for me. I missed the glove boat.

Bet on the recovery and my portfolio managed to sail through 2020 with an almost 10% gain y-o-y. As the portfolio increases in value and diversification, long gone are the days of 15-20% capital gains. I’ll be aiming to rebalance and refocus my portfolio next year. Cutting underperforming stocks and adding more winners.

I’ll also be focusing on my US portfolio moving forward. I’ve also made a decision to keep my US portfolio hidden to maintain some form of privacy. Don’t worry you’ll still be able to view it in percentage (%) form.

My Investments

The Freedom Fund

Market value: RM545,778.21
Cash: RM46,350.83
Dividends: RM15,415.64
Dividend yield: 3.33%

The Freedom Fund (US)

Crypto Portfolio

Gross Investment: RM13,808
Market Value: RM34,424
Capital Gain/Loss: +149.30%

StashAway

Dividend Magic – Risk (36% Risk Index)
Gross Investment – RM14,001.00
Current Value – RM15,378.03
Time-weighted return – 8.01%

Dividend Magic US – Risk (30% Risk Index)
Gross Investment – RM10,000.00
Current Value – RM10,603.19
Time-weighted return – 6.03%

StashAway Simple
Gross Investment – RM12,500.00
Current Value – RM12,559.17

TOTAL
Gross Investment – RM36,501.00
Current Value – RM38,540.39
Gain/Loss: +5.6%

My Overall Investment Portfolio

Freedom Fund: RM607,544.68
Crypto: RM34,424.00
StashAway: RM38,540.39
Total: RM679,125.07

Goals for 2021

The Freedom Fund and StashAway performed solidly for me in 2020. Obviously, I’ll want to see my dividends go up in 2021. It dropped a little this year with a few companies in my portfolio electing to withhold dividends.

I hope to see dividends surpass RM20K per annum barring any unforeseen circumstances.

Also, I want to eventually have my total investments (excluding my US portfolio) reach RM750K in 2021 and RM1 million by 2025. Setting the bar a little low there I know but I’ve learnt that the key to happiness is low expectations. And with RM1 million in investments, I should be able to hit my dividend target of RM36,000 per annum.

On the other hand, I will also be pumping money into my US portfolio (which as mentioned above will be tracked only in %).

Now, to the best performing asset for me in 2020 – Bitcoin and Ethereum. Almost at a 150% return for me at the time of writing and it is increasing. I set out to keep crypto to a maximum of 10% of my portfolio. I’ll continue to hold onto them coins for now.

dividendmagic.com.my

I consider every one of you reading as a stakeholder of Dividend Magic. So an update of the website at the end of 2020 would be apt.

As mentioned on my About page, at the rate the blog is growing, we will definitely be hitting a million (and more) views next year. A big thank you to everyone that has been frequenting the blog and interacting with me on social media. I appreciate every follow, like, comment, and share you’ve been so generous with. I love the community we’ve built and the friends I’ve made along the way. We’re a small but tight-knit bunch in Malaysia.

If you haven’t already, follow me on Facebook, Instagram, and now YouTube to keep up to date.

To those that have been wondering if I’m making money via ads on the blog, the answer is finally a yes. But it isn’t much, unfortunately.

I’ve opted for the minimum amount of ads as well as the best-optimized placement for readers.

Right now, ad revenue itself is able to cover the running costs of the blog which I’m super grateful for. I don’t see this growing significantly, maybe I’m doing something wrong with the ads. With running expenses covered, Dividend Magic will be here to stay.

End.

Dividend Magic - We can do it!

That is all there is to update. 2020 was scary, thankfully, my investments are doing all right now. As always, it is important to stay invested and to attack when the opportunity presents itself. There will of course be some missed opportunities and lessons to be learned along the way. All my mistakes, all my wins, you’ll be able to see them here on the blog.

I’ll be updating my portfolios on a monthly basis as usual come 2021. Have a happy new year and I’ll see everyone in 2021.

Financial Independence, Retire Early (FI/RE) Guide for Malaysians

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Filed Under: FI/RE 6

Financial Independence, Retire Early (FI/RE) is a movement dedicated to savings (sometimes extreme) and investment that allows its followers to achieve financial freedom and early retirement far earlier than traditional retirement plans.

Some proponents of the FIRE movement have retired as early as age 30, instead of the conventional and agreed upon retirement age of 65.

Steps to Achieving FIRE

In recent years, I’ve seen more and more Malaysians embracing the FIRE movement, especially the millennials.

Of course, many of us are still striving to achieve financial independence, myself included. My aim is to achieve this by the age of 35. Below are some of the steps I’ve taken.

1. Saving

There are no shortcuts here. My savings rate has always been high and well above the average Malaysians. In the first few years of being in the traditional workforce, I saved like hell. I detail how I built my investment portfolio through frugality hERE.

Asians in general are predisposed to saving from the onset. I think most families cultivate savings as a habit from a young age and that alone will set us apart from other cultures. Saving alone, I think, accounts for 50% of your FIRE journey.

Emergency Fund

Saving and your emergency fund goes hand in hand. The first step is always to build a fund for emergencies. Steps and how I structure my emergency fund can be found hERE.

An emergency fund helps in two major ways. Firstly, it gives you peace of mind. And secondly, if and when an unexpected financial crisis occurs, you won’t have to liquidate your investments to cover those costs.

Having set up my emergency fund, my next step was investments.

Debt

I’ve been fortunate enough to get out of my education debt early thanks to wonderful parents.

Another huge debt hurdle I foresee Malaysians encountering in their lifetime is of course your mortgage. Two ways to go about this, either factor in your mortgage repayments into your annual expenses, or if it is cheaper, rent. If you’re lucky to have your parents leaving and bequeathing you the family home after they’re gone, you’re set in this department as well. Just make sure to take care of them.

Other debts such as credit card and personal loans, stay clear of them. If you have them, pay them off at once, then start on your emergency fund.

2. Grow Your Money

There are a 101 ways to grow your money. The path I’ve chosen is to invest in stocks. You may find that you have superior knowledge in other assets like real estate. Or you may prefer to put your money in robo advisors like StashAway. To each his own I say. As long as you’re investing in something that is an asset.

By investing in stocks, my money will grow in two ways.

a) Capital Gains

A capital gain is when my stocks increase in value. For example, purchasing Nestle 2 years ago for RM70 per share. Today, that same share is worth RM140 per share, giving me a 100% or 2X in capital gain in two years.

The same can be said for real estate. Purchasing a residential property at RM100K 5 years ago, you may sell it for RM200K in today for the same 100% gain in five years.

b) Passive Income

A whole article can be written on passive income alone. Which is just what I did and you can read about it hERE.

To keep it simple here, passive income is income I receive without having to put in effort or work for. Through stock investment, I get passive income via dividends. As a real-life example, I received RM16,322.26 in dividend income last year from my Malaysian stock portfolio – the Freedom Fund.

Another example of passive income using real estate as an example is rental. The rent you receive from your tenants can be considered passive income as well.

Your FI/RE Amount

The amount everyone is aiming for to FIRE is actually different. It depends on your monthly expenses. If you’re able to live on RM1,000 a month, you can achieve financial independence and retire at a much earlier age with a much smaller amount in the bank.

How I Calculate My FI/RE Amount

As a general rule of thumb, you want to have 30X your yearly expenses in the bank, the dollar amount most people go by is RM1 million. For me, I’ve calculated my annual expenses to about RM36,000. And 30X that amount is RM1.08 million.

This of course is my own personal amount, no family as of yet. For those that are worried about inflation, I believe that a good investment portfolio will negate the effects of inflation.

Using mine as an example, investing in consumer stocks like Nestle and real estate like REITs, inflation is taken care of by these businesses themselves. Ie. Nestle will raise prices to keep up with inflation. And REITs like IGB REIT would definitely increase rental rates as the years go by.

If you however are just saving your money in FDs, you will have to account for inflation. So make sure your portfolio is invested in the right assets.

The First 100K

However, I’ve found it to be much easier to break down that RM1 million goal. Start with the smaller and (in my opinion) much harder to achieve goal of RM100K.

This is how I achieved my first RM100K.

After getting that RM100K, RM1 million becomes much, much easier. Snowballing from RM100K to a million is much easier than from zero to a 100K.

The Different Types of FI/RE

I know I know, they confuse the hell out of me as well.

Fat FIRE

So Fat FIRE is the best FIRE of all. You’re basically living it up post retirement and enjoying it to the fullest.

You’re able to survive without a job as your passive income more than covers ALL your expenses, not just your basic ones. It is of course the best way to retire, but also the hardest to achieve. You’ll have to be earning a lot as well as having a high savings rate.

But come post retirement, think extravagant getaways, a beautiful home, no more worrying about paying your bills.

Lean FIRE

This is the opposite of Fat FIRE where you basically cut your expenses as much as you can. If you’re prepared to lower your standard of living to the bare minimum post-retirement, Lean FIRE is for you.

People hop onto the Lean FIRE wagon when they realise that they aren’t able to save that much and/or time is running out. Also, if you prefer to spend your younger years enjoying and living a minimalist lifestyle after retirement, you may want to look into Lean FIRE.

Pros and cons here, if you’re absolutely all right with a minimal life, Lean FIRE is the way to go. You don’t need to save up as much for your retirement. It is a significantly lower amount. Also great if you don’t want kids.

Barista FIRE

This one here is pretty new to me. It is what’s between Fat and Lean FIRE. It basically means taking on a part-time job to supplement your income.

Thereafter, depending on how your investments do, you make a more informed decision moving forward. For example, if your stock investments do well over the next 3 years, and you’re able to achieve Fat FIRE, by all means, quit your part time job.

Protecting Your Money

What happens now that you’ve achieved 30X your yearly expense?

You’ll want to protect and continue to grow my money. Some proponents of FIRE actually stop growing their money at this stage. Instead, opting to make small withdrawals (typically 3%) a year.

Personally, with stocks, I aim to continue growing my portfolio from a million to much more. Retiring early isn’t a part of my plan.

Regardless, you will want to protect your wealth by diversifying your money into less risky assets now. At this stage, I would start moving my stocks and building a more defensive portfolio. I’ll focus on maintaining my dividend income as well as preserving my portfolio’s value. No more risky bets at this stage.

How Long Will the Money Last?

If you can get to 30 times your annual expenses, technically, that is enough for you to live off – forever.

With prudent management of your wealth at this point, trust me, you’ll be able to live off that portfolio for a long time. You may even have some leftover for the next generation.

FI/RE requires discipline and letting time work in your favor. Which is why starting early on your savings and investing is so important. Just keep at it and in no time, you’ll be living off your passive income.

If you’re interested in the concept of FI/RE and want to mingle and exchange ideas with like-minded people, we have a Facebook group hERE. To those that have already achieved FI/RE, please do join us and share your journey.

As always, Facebook and Instagram. Keep up to date and help support the blog by following and sharing. Thank you!

Passive Income in Malaysia

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Filed Under: FI/RE, Passive Income 0

Readers of the blog will be familiar with the term passive income. And to once and for all give my point of view on what is actual passive income as well as my own passive revenue streams.

What is Passive Income?

The notion of having your money work for you, to have it generate additional income while you sleep is a wonderful one.

Right off the bat, let me dispel the notion that passive income is only for the wealthier individual. In fact, passive income is for anyone and everyone. Regardless of the amount, passive income is passive income. RM10 a month is a passive income if your assets are generating it for you. Everyone starts small. In fact, I think my first dividend received was in the region of RM50 for the first year. That’s like RM4 per month. Work on it continuously and trust me, it’ll grow.

More popular forms of passive income in Malaysia include rentals from real estate, interest from bank deposits and P2P lending, and dividends from stocks and businesses.

”Passive Income”

The term Passive Income has been thrown around and mentioned a lot recently as Malaysians become more financially literate. In general, passive income is defined as income earned with little or no effort. So not all ”passive income” is truly passive.

For example, almost everyone would list their rental income as passive. I beg to differ. In my experience, taking care of your rental property takes time and effort. You may have a real estate agent working with you at the start but most of the time, you’ll be doing the work yourself. Personally, I put up ads on my own as I feel my agent’s ads were too generic. I even attend the viewings to make sure the said agent is doing his/her job right.

Now all that is just to get your unit rented, what happens when a pipe bursts or your air conditioners malfunctions. Your agent isn’t going to help you with it as there’s nothing in it for them. So no, I’ll not list my rent collection as a passive income.

However, your rental income will be classified as passive once you hire a proper property manager where he/she is hired on a full time basis to take care of your real estate portfolio. Of course, you’ll have to have a large mix of properties before that is viable.

My Passive Income

passive income malaysia

I myself like to only call a source of income passive when it truly requires zero to minimal effort on my part.

This is why, out of all my income streams, I only actually consider my dividends from stocks and interest earned from P2P lending passive income. 

A good benchmark to know if your passive income returns are up to par would be your fixed deposits with banks. Historically, it has been at the 3% mark. Recently, a 2% return is the norm. So if you’ve already got investments generating passive returns for you, check if it’s higher than your FD rates. I’d even go so far to say that FDs are like the kings of passive income. Easiest to obtain, all you need is capital.

My income right now comes from the following:

  1. Salary
  2. Stakes in businesses
  3. Rental
  4. Dividends
  5. Interest

Earned income from working a job is the total opposite of passive income. My businesses, although can run by themselves, I still consider them not to be truly passive because they still require constant monitoring and checking in with.

As mentioned earlier, rental income from my properties does not fall under the passive category for me. My properties require attention from time to time in the form of rent collection, having to look for tenants, fixing stuff etc. So, not passive. For me at least. Until I hire a property manager.

Dividends from my stocks I totally consider passive because the valuation of a company is done once before I purchase the stock. Thereafter, I only check in with the same company either quarterly, half-yearly or sometimes even once a year. 

Lastly, my income in the form of interests comes mostly from fixed deposits and lending money via P2P lending platforms. FDs are a no-brainer, you can even make placements online nowadays. As for my P2P lending, although small in comparison to my other income, this one is passive for me as well. I just read the prospectus and information on the company/business I’m lending money to, and then sit back and receive my money in the form of capital plus interests.

My main source of passive income comes from dividends generated by my Freedom Fund. To achieve financial independence, I’ve calculated that I’d need roughly RM3,000 a month in passive income.

Last year’s dividends came up to RM16,322.27. I’m almost halfway to my goal of RM36,000 in dividends per annum. My dividends so far for the year 2020 can be viewed hERE.

How to Generate Passive Income

Earning any form of income boils down to two factors – the effort and time and/or the amount of capital you put in. In essence, either you invest and put up your time or you put up your money.

So if you’re young, you’re able and you’ve got time to spare, you will want to consider putting in your time and effort towards building a steady stream of passive income. A good example of this would be someone in their 20s working their ass off in a business with the eventual goal of automating it and generating returns without their involvement.

Or, that same 20-year-old person could work at their career, save their salary, and then invest that money to then eventually earn passive returns. Which means – time and effort first, and then putting up the capital after.

Unless you’re fortunate to be inheriting wealth, you’ll always have to put something up for returns. Your effort, your time, your money.

Getting to where I’m at hasn’t been an easy ride. My portfolio is mainly built on frugality. In my experience, passive income does not come easy. It’ll take a huge initial investment on your part. In the case of my dividend income from stocks, to earn that RM16K per annum, I had to have about RM400K in capital which comes up to about a 4% return for me.

Why is Passive Income Important

If like me, you’re on a quest for financial independence, passive income will cover your expenses. Financial freedom and security has always been my ultimate goal.

When I invest, I invest to first increase my passive income. And when I’ve eventually reached my passive income goal, I’ll focus on growth. Because that is when I’m set and I can afford to take bigger risks with my investments. Also, I’d rather not liquidate and sell my stocks for income.

With a steady, reliable source of passive income generating for you every month, trust me, you’ll be in a very happy place. Investment decisions can be so much more logical and less emotional. You worry less about losing the shirt off your back if your investments don’t work out. Of course, being a rational investor you’ll still exercise caution, you just won’t be hindered by thoughts of bankruptcy and worst-case scenarios.

Passive Income Ideas

If you’re like most readers of the blog, you probably are in your 20s or 30s, and you’re working for a salary. You might want to first consider putting in FDs, and then maybe stocks for dividends.

Another way to go is properties, it may not be passive for now. But once you’ve built up a substantial real estate portfolio where hiring a property manager is viable, it most definitely will be passive then.

One more potentially lucrative endeavor are businesses. You may have a hobby right now which can be turned into a side hustle and eventually into a full-fledged business. Or if you’ve got the dough, look into franchises that do not require your full attention.

I’m always trying to find other ways to generate passive income for myself. Some good ones come to mind like royalties from book publishing, music, or any kind of intellectual property.

The blog itself is earning a little from ad revenue and affiliate marketing. This however isn’t passive YET. I don’t want to bombard you guys with too many ads on the site. And affiliate marketing only happens when I actually like and/or use the products. Right now I’m just really enjoying writing and having a community built on investing and FI/RE.

Now, as you can probably tell, not everything may qualify as passive at first because it requires a tremendous amount of effort. But at the end of the day, say 10 years down the road when you’re able to be hands-off and collect your cash, it’s most definitely passive.

A Few Closing Thoughts

Passive income for me is tied closely to my goal of financial independence and freedom. And I’ve decided on dividends to be my main stream of income. You may have other ideas for passive income and your goals might differ. At the end of the day, we can all agree that passive income is a good supplement to your portfolio whatever your financial goals might be.

Ever since I graduated and started my first job, I’ve worked towards a goal – having a stock portfolio whose dividends I can live off for the rest of my life. So, if you haven’t already, set yourself a target and work towards it. Don’t just work that 9 to 5 job aimlessly. Your goal could be like mine, financial independence. Or maybe you truly find happiness in living a lavish life. There isn’t anything wrong with either one. A goal is a goal, as long as you have one and you’re happy, by all means!

For the next article of the FI/RE and Savings Series, check out article 004 – Emergency Funds & Fixed Deposit Laddering.

As always, Facebook and Instagram. Keep up to date and help support the blog by following and sharing. Thank you!

Hello 2020!

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Filed Under: Dividends, FI/RE, Financial Independence 0

My Goals

Financial

Let’s start off with my goals set way back in 2018.

  • Dividend yield > 5%
  • Total dividends > RM20,000 p.a.

Those were the goals I set out to achieve at the start of 2019. Here’s where I am at now.

  • Dividend yield:  4.16%
  • Total dividends: RM16,322.27

As compared to 2018, both my yield and my total dividends have dropped. I can attribute this to the bad performance of some companies I hold and the markets not doing well. But at the end of the day, it is on me because I held on to those stocks and I should be ahead of the market.

So, come 2020, I’ll be sprucing up and making some changes to the Freedom Fund. Time to get the dividend yield above the 5% threshold, lock in some profits and cut some losses.

For 2020:
Fix the Freedom Fund. The aim is still 5% dividend yield per annum with the final goal being RM36,000 in total dividends every year.

Thereafter, I’d want to set aside some money to invest in riskier, high growth potential companies.

The Blog

The blog has been making steady progress over the years. Dividend Magic has officially crossed the 1 million views mark. It’ll be exciting to see how the site does in the coming years.

You may have come across a few more Sponsored Posts than usual.
I’d like everyone to know that I vet through and at the end of the day only take on jobs that I personally approve and use. So, the next time you see the tag [Sponsored], do know that it’ll probably bring some value to you.

For 2020:
I’ve made a decision moving forward to focus on quality as opposed to quantity when it comes to sponsors. I’ll be choosing to work with a select few that relate closely to investing and what I’m writing about.

Health

In the past, I’ve been focusing a lot on financial goals but I’d like to keep myself accountable on the non-financial aspects of my life as well. So the goals will be a little more personal this time around.

I’ve been hitting the gym 5 times a week now. Also, instead of the usual strength and vanity muscle workouts, I’ve been focusing on mobility and stretching.

Meditation is also a big part of my routine now. If you all want to be more productive and focused on basically everything, I highly recommend meditation. It’ll take up only 10-20 minutes of your day.

For 2020:
I’d want to continue my 5-times a week work out sessions.

Also, I’d like to make meditation a permanent routine and habit of mine. First thing in the morning and one more in the evening.

And, a better diet.

Personal

I’ll be increasing my budget for travel as well as for food moving forward. So look forward to more posts and photos like this on my Instagram.

and this

I’ll leave you with a little video of my how my 2019 went.

End.

This is how the Freedom Fund looks going into 2020.

Gross Investment: RM392,717.20
Market Value: RM458,476.77
Dividends (2019): RM16,322.27
Dividend Yield: 4.16%
Special Dividend: RM11,970.00

2020 would be a good year to start investing. If you’re looking to start, start hERE. If you haven’t got the funds, please start saving.

To a stellar year ahead. Onwards and upwards.

Follow me on Facebook and Instagram to keep up with my dividend income updates.

Emergency Funds & Fixed Deposit Laddering

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Filed Under: FI/RE, Investment, Other Investments 11

I’ll teach everyone how to set up your emergency funds using fixed deposits right here.

I know some of you veteran investors will already know all about FDs, but this one is for the newcomers.

You wouldn’t believe the number of inquiries I’ve had on FDs from readers. FDs are, by large the first form of investment everyone should have. They are a risk-free, interest generating financial product offered by the good banks here in Malaysia.

In this article, I’ll show you how to set up your Emergency Fund with FDs.

What are Fixed Deposits?

Fixed deposits or FDs as we will call them is, first of all, a financial instrument. Here in Malaysia, they’re provided by banks and gives a higher interest rate than a typical savings account.

The usual terms of a Fixed Deposit here in Malaysia:

1. You place a fixed sum with the bank for a fixed period of time.
2. The bank agrees to pay you a fixed interest rate.
3. You don’t touch that money. After the said period, you get your money back PLUS interest.

What if you were in an emergency you say?
And you needed to uplift the FD before it matures? Well, you’ll most likely lose all your interest. But your initial sum will NEVER be touched.

This right here is a liquidity problem with fixed deposits. Don’t worry I have a solution.

My Emergency Fund

An emergency fund is exactly what it sounds like. It’s a certain amount of money, easily accessible and put away in case of an emergency.

Exactly how much to put away? You’ll first need to know your average expenses and spending per month. After figuring that out, you’ll want at least a 6-month emergency fund.

Using myself as an example – On average, I spend around RM5,000 per month. All in.

So, a 6-month emergency fund would be RM30,000. But I try to keep a 24-month emergency fund going. Just cause. Which gives me around RM120,000 in liquid cash.

Now, the key ingredient for a good emergency fund is LIQUIDITY.

My emergency fund is 90% Fixed Deposits and 10% Savings Account and/or Cash. But an FD isn’t that liquid. So here’s how you make it liquid.

Why an Emergency Fund?

An emergency fund in my opinion serves two purposes.

The first one is to help you avoid a situation where you have to liquidate your investment assets in a crisis. As an investor, your portfolio can take a huge hit if you sell at the wrong time.

Imagine having to sell your stocks or that investment property due to a medical emergency.

The second reason is psychological. Knowing you have a safety net gives you a sense of security and peace of mind. It’ll give you a boost in confidence and has helped me as an investor focus on investing. I don’t have to worry about my expenses or my needs during an emergency.

I am genuinely positive that my emergency fund has helped me make better investing decisions.

Fixed Deposit Laddering

FD Laddering. This should address all the liquidity problems you have with your fixed deposits. Here’s how I do it.

Remember that RM120,000 emergency fund? It won’t make much sense if you put the whole chunk of it into one FD.

Say next month you needed to get your car fixed and it’ll cost you RM1,000. Uplifting that RM120,000 FD would mean you lose your interest. 3% on 120K is RM3,600 in interest per annum. That’s no chump change.

Solution? Break that RM120,000 up. I personally use Maybank so I’ll be giving you an example of it. The minimum FD placement is this – RM5,000 for 1 month.

My FD Ladder

If you’re up for it, you can go right ahead and break them up into 24 tiny chunks.

I differentiated mine into RM10K and RM20K FDs, with a mixture of 1-month and 3-month periods. It’ll look something like this:

The longer you place your money in an FD, the higher the interest the bank pays you. It is, however, a negligible difference because you’ll be compounding your money if its a monthly one anyway.

Also, try to make sure you place your FDs on different days of the month. I have them in the beginning, the middle and the end of the month. This will allow you to eventually uplift the one that’ll cost you the least in interest in the event of an emergency.

Fixed Deposit Perpetuity

I always select the following 2 options whenever I place an FD.

1. Credit interest earned to the principal.
This essentially means you’re compounding your interest automatically.

2. Renew FD at maturity.
This means I never have to look at my FD Ladder again. It’ll run by itself.

End.

I know most of these are common sense to some, but I still hope I managed to bring value to everyone reading this.

I’m sure some of you have more sophisticated FD hacks and tricks. Please, do share!

For the next article of the FI/RE and Savings Series, check out article 005 – The Seven Stages of Financial Independence.

As always, Facebook, Instagram, and now YouTube! Follow, keep up to date.

Basic Financial Plan for Malaysians

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Filed Under: Dividends, FI/RE, Financial Independence, Financial Planning, Fixed Deposits, Savings Accounts etc, Investment 22

I’ve gotten so many questions from all of you seeking financial guidance that I’ve decided to once and for all come up with a simple financial plan (a guide if you will) for all to use.  

We’ll begin with the basics first, getting yourself out of debt, saving up, and then investing that money for passive income.

The Goal

The final goal of this plan here is for everyone to have an investment portfolio that generates sufficient passive income to sustain your lifestyle.

What is your Networth

Use a paper or Microsoft Excel and draw up your Balance Sheet. You’ll have your assets listed on one column and your liabilities on the other.

I’ve got a simple template set up for everyone to use here. Add or remove necessary items. The download link for the Excel file is below.

Personal-Balance-SheetDownload

1. Budgeting and Saving

First and foremost, you’ll need to have capital. For that regular, periodic investing. And also, for the opportunities that appear once (or twice) in your lifetime.

Acquiring capital would mean you need a surplus in your monthly budget. Now, there are tons of budgeting templates out there on the interwebs so I’m not going to walk you through this.

I will, however, tell you that the most important aspect of budgeting is to make it into a healthy habit. Keep at it for a time and you’ll thank yourself 50 years down the road.

Savings – I want you to have at least a 20% savings rate. The higher the better, in fact, try for 50% of your take-home salary. You’ll invest more during your early years and let the magic of compounding take over sooner.

2. Your Emergency Fund

After you’re done consolidating and paying off your debts, you’ll have a nice surplus in your budget and savings every month.

The next step would be to start building up what we call your Emergency Fund. This is the fund where if and when you ever need money for an emergency, you’ll never need to take out that personal loan or worse, from loan sharks.

An example – medical bills, or if your phone got stolen etc.

How much should you have you ask? Some sites will tell you 3 months of your expenses. I say at least 6 months, go 12 months if you’re the risk-averse kind.

I typically keep my emergency funds in Fixed Deposits (‘FDs’). Now, you may need to liquidate this cash immediately, so put them up in one-month FDs.

3.1 Investing

You’ve got a kick-ass budget going on, your behind is covered by your emergency fund, now let’s talk investing.

As you all know, I invest heavily in stocks. My portfolio can be found hERE.
Here’s what I do – I continue saving and accumulating my wealth. I then wait for and seize any opportunities that present itself. I try to always have cash on hand.

Of course, you may not want to invest in stocks. And that’s perfectly fine, you should invest in securities you KNOW and you’re comfortable with. Just as long as you INVEST. Don’t leave your money lying around in FDs and what not because inflation is gonna take a bite out of it every single day.

The 7 investment options in Malaysia can be found hERE.

Investing your money is essentially making your money work for you. The first few years of your investing will determine the outcome of your financial well-being so invest with care and diligence.

3.2 Building Your Passive Income

For me and hopefully, for you, the goal is to have enough passive income to not have to worry about work. I’ve calculated that to about RM3,000 per month or RM36,000 per year. This is the essence of FI/RE – Financial Independence and Retire Early.

To learn more about FI/RE – click hERE.

There are lots of people and information out there that touts and scream passive income in your face. But when I say passive, I mean the true passive. You receive regular income with little to no effort on your part.

For example, a rental property where you manage it yourself and you’re getting complaints from the tenant every other month is not passive.

Whereas if you let your agent handle every single thing regarding the said property and check-in maybe every quarter with him/her, I’d classify that as passive.

Or you know, just buy Real Estate Investment Trusts (‘REITS’).
Let huge ass property managers manage your property instead. No worries. Hakuna Matata.

4. Protection

Now I’m including protection into your financial plan because many either overlook this or overprotect and overinsure themselves.

This step should be done simultaneously with Step 3.

Let’s talk insurance. I know I’ll be getting flak from insurance agents for saying this but – You don’t need life insurance. This is my opinion.

What you should focus on right now, is medical insurance. To cover your medical expenses, should you be hospitalized or some critical illness should befall you. That’s all I have and that’s all I need. I can pass on my whole portfolio to my next of kin and dependants upon my demise.

While we’re on the topic, fuck investment-linked insurance. Get a standard, simple one. Don’t let the premiums in your 80s scare you. You’ll invest the money yourself, without paying a fee to the insurance company.

5. Review and Monitor

You finally have everything in order. The final step is a step that is continuous and on-going. It is for life. And it is for generations to come.

You’ll need to monitor your budget monthly, make sure your savings increase in tandem with your salary and income.

Your emergency fund will increase as your monthly expenditure goes up.

Your investments and assets AND passive income should always go up, up and UP.

And, your insurance should always be updated to include the latest offerings and cover all illnesses.

I myself go over my finances every month. Part of the reason I started Dividend Magic is to keep track of my investment portfolio as well as to hold myself accountable.

End.

It is my hope that this here Financial Plan would be of help to every single Malaysian. It is a very basic plan, I’ve left out some more advanced features of financial plans but the essentials are all there.

You and you yourself are responsible for your finances.

Remember – Save, Invest and FI/RE.
I’ll leave you one of my favourite quotes by William Shakespeare.

”There is a tide in the affairs of men, Which taken at the flood, leads on to fortune. Omitted, all the voyage of their life is bound in shallows and in miseries. On such a full sea are we now afloat. And we must take the current when it serves, or lose our ventures.”

Now go out there and don’t let them opportunities pass you by.

You’re done with the FI/RE and Savings Series! You can check out article 001 – A Guide to Stock Investment in Malaysia of the Investing Series.

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