A Homemaker’s Diary

I’m on my way towards that..haha! You don’t believe me? I just came back from attending the talk, hopefully within 2 months I will get my license to be a mutual fund consultant. I have been very interested to learn about all this mutual fund type of investment but couldn’t find the right source and time to get the right info.

While attending the Entrepreneur exhibition at Mid Valley last weekend, (one of our friends has to handle a career booth there), I made some brave move to go to the mutual fund booth and ask about it. So yesterday they call and ask me to go to their branch for the briefing. I have few friends who have been investing into all type of funds in this mutual fund investment and they said the ROI and dividend annually is very good compared to EPF. So I’m quite convinced to give it a try.

I will let you all know what else I learn from this course. The agency I’m going to sign up not only will train me for the exam to be a licensed consultant but they will even pay for me to be a Certified Financial Planner (CFP) if I have the right attitude and commitment.

Imagine being sponsored to study something that could generate more money into your life. That would be awesome, huh!

Though I’m not a fan when it comes to accumulating debt and paying them, I think I have to be grateful for the existence of credit cards. Living in a big city and has no one to turn to in time of needs (especially cash), credit cards can be a real blessing. And like any gift bestowed upon you, misusing it is at your own risks. 🙂

So my point is if you really want to have credit card, make sure you compare credit cards before you apply for one. If you already have a mount of balance from your other credit cards, find a good deal to do some balance transfer especially with interest free credit cards available in the market because by doing the balance transfer and paying it all on time and within the duration, you can save a heap of interest on it, seriously!

And if you are starting out a life as newly wed and plan to buy the dryer, washing machine, fridge and TV, find deals that allow you to make the purchase using 0% credit cards. Locally, I know a credit card that offers up to 24 months of 0% interest free purchase.

Word of wisdom, like any other riches in the world, the plastic money can be good or evil depending on the will of the one who owns it!

I have a friend, in fact she is one of my close friends since high school now working in UK as a medical doctor. Back then while she was completing her study, she was telling me that she was in need of money to pay for her accommodation during her last semester.

She went to UK 7 years ago on government scholarship and somehow during the last semester (while she was doing internship in a hospital nearby) the amount was not enough to cover the expenses of her hostel accommodation.

So she went to a good, reputable bank and requested for personal loan and after a while she told me that she got it. I was definitely happy for her but I was wondering how come it is so easy for a student, yet to be a full time working doctor to get a personal loan.

With that money she was able to pay for the accommodation fees and even supported her parents to go over to UK for her convocation ceremony.

Personally I feel using a personal loan is a big help if you know how to manage your finance well and responsible enough to pay for it on time. As for now, my friend is still working in UK because she needs to pay off the loans before she decided to come home to Malaysia for good.

If you are in UK and in need of loan, visit the website SelectLoans to compare loans. There are mainly two types of loans available, one is Secured Loans and another one is Unsecured Loans.

Make sure you have done a thorough loan shopping before you decide which one you will sign up to. The choice you should make will depend on your own personal circumstances and loan amounts. So think wisely and once you get the loan, don’t let it burst into the air in your haste judgment of wild spending.

The first guide to save money is to cook at home. It might take a few minutes of your time (if you practise everyday, the pace of cooking will get better) or hours if you intend to whip some gourmet dish. But a basic rice and chicken will do for an empty stomach.

The next tips is to only buy what is necessary although there are not-very necessary items at the moment on 70% sales. (I know it’s hard to resist the temptation, but you have to sacrifice for that bigger goal of your dream home)

The third one is to fully utilize certain items until they no longer can fit the purpose. Example, wear the blouse for 15 years if it’s still looking good and still in fashion and has no tear anywhere. Not that I ask you to wear the same blouse day and night, but if it’s still ain’t broken, don’t throw it away. The money you intend to splurge on the new blouse of the month could be saved for better use in the future.

How about that 3 tips to try today? Oh, the picture above is Ayam Masak Merah. I cooked it for weekend lunch a few weeks ago.