Happy retiree reaps reward of diligent labour

PETALING JAYA: Lee Poh Sin is a happy retiree.

The 55-year-old former logistics manager has been working for the last 33 years and he knows his savings can last him the next 25 years.

Lee: ‘I started planning for my retirement about 15 years ago’

“I started planning for my retirement about 15 years ago. I wanted to make sure I would have a relaxing retirement and sufficient cash to last me another 25 years.

“And so I started investing in properties, unit trusts, fixed deposits and other forms of investments.

“They were accumulated in stages and like most people, I couldn't afford everything at one go,” said Lee who was working for a food and beverage company.

Lee said he and his wife put their heads together and planned for the financial security of their family.

“Now that my three children are all working, it is a big relief for us. We would save up to 25% of our salary every month when we were working.

“We didn’t use the services of a financial planner as they were not well-known back then.

“The important thing is that you plan and save,” he said adding that he could now rely on returns from his investments.

Lee has also nurtured the habit of planning and saving in his three children.

“Sometimes during our family dinners, I would impart to them the importance of saving.

“As long as you don't spend unwisely or have a spur-of-the-moment expenditure, it should be all right. The problem starts when people spend beyond what they can afford.”

Lee said people his generation were generally more thrifty. Some young people, he added, were not aware of the risks in not planning ahead.

“If you earn RM1, you should only spend 80 sen. It's okay to give yourself a treat once in a while but to spend beyond what you earn all the time is a no-no.

“And the easy availability of credit cards these days only worsens the situation. Some people keep four to five credit cards, but find it very hard to pay the money back.

“There really is no shortcut to saving ? you have to be disciplined,” he said.

http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2006/6/19/nation/14580992&sec=nation

Save more on your own

PETALING JAYA: It is not enough to rely solely on savings from the Employees Provident Fund (EPF) when you retire, say financial planners.

“While the EPF has been very successful in forcing people to save, it is still not enough as most Malaysians cannot support their lifestyle over 20 years solely with their EPF,” said licensed financial planner Rajen Devadason.

“Also, to depend on your children for support can be quite difficult.

“They will have their own families, their own retirement plans, taxes, loans and mortgages. Too many goals, too little money to go around.”

He was elaborating on The Star's frontpage report in which psychologist Prof Dr Low Wah Yun advised Malaysians to start planning their retirement 20 years in advance.

Dr Low said retirement is a transition that could cause major life changes and be very stressful if one is not prepared. “But with advance planning, it can be very satisfying and retirees can lead a very productive life,” she told a conference on Saturday.

Rajen, who has been in financial planning for 10 years, said he would convince his client to save up to half his or her take-home salary.

“This is after deductions in EPF, Socso and taxes. But if a 35-year-old person saves 30% (excluding EPF) of his nett salary every month until he is 55, he should be all right.

“People should also set up a three to six months' buffer fund from their savings, so that they will have something to fall back on should they lose their job.

“Three months if you have a stable job, six months if your boss hates you,” he said with a laugh.

He said Bank Negara Malaysia's insurance mortality table showed that the average 55-year-old man is expected to live up to 79, while the average 55-year-old woman to 83.

Chartered financial consultant Gary Low recommends a 10% savings of the salary for those who have just started work and save more as their career develops.

“A recent survey showed that 17% of Malaysians cannot survive more than a month with no income. And I believe many more would not be able to survive three months without income. This is what the emergency buffer is for,” said Low.

The crucial thing retirees should remember, he said, is that their health would not get better.

“And it is for this time of old age that you will need your finances to support your medical bills. When you retire, you should enjoy retirement, and not spend it worrying when your money runs out.”

http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2006/6/19/nation/14581694&sec=nation

Gone within three years

PETALING JAYA: One of the most painful realities about retirement is that your money will run out.

In a recent study by the Employees Provident Fund (EPF), almost 69% of retirees deplete their EPF funds within the first three years of retirement.

While most Malaysians are enjoying better health and a longer life expectancy ratio, what seems rather worrying is that if the trend continues, the majority of our retiree population will probably have little or no money left by their fourth or fifth year into retirement.

Those with filial children or caring family members might still be able to eke out a living, but for hundreds of thousands of others in a less fortunate position, the future would look rather bleak.

Neither the EPF nor the Government seems to know how to get retirees to change their minds from treating the EPF as their savings account.

And the temptation for retirees to lay their hands on the lump sum of cash is very strong.

The EPF can only advise contributors and hope good sense will prevail, but unfortunately, many retirees feel they are the best judge of how to invest or spend their savings.

National Council of Senior Citizens Organisations Malaysia president Lum Kin Tuck said 56 is “too early an age for retirement”.

“I urge the Government to consider pushing the retirement age to 65. Senior citizens have a lot of potential and they are still capable of contributing to society,” he said yesterday.

Lum said it was very difficult for a retiree to gain re-employment as “nobody will hire us”.

He suggested that coffeeshop owners hire senior citizens instead of taking in foreign workers.

“Simple jobs at coffee shops can be given to old people so that they have a chance of earning a living.”

Asked if the association had programmes to help people plan for their retirement, he replied: “No, we don't have any such programmes although we are advocating a social pension.”

Do Malaysians in general plan for their retirement?

“No, most people don't actually plan for their retirement. Young people can be very materialistic and so they don't save. As for the lower income groups, it is hard enough to make a daily living. How can they save for retirement?”

http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2006/6/18/nation/14578489&sec=nation

Plan your golden years

KUALA LUMPUR: Start planning for your retirement 20 years in advance. It will save you a whole lot of anxiety and worry.

“Retirement is a transition which can cause major life changes and it can be very stressful if you're not prepared for it.

“But with advance planning, it can be very satisfying and retirees can lead a very productive life,” psychologist Prof Dr Low Wah Yun said.

Retirement should be planned in advance in various aspects, including finance and healthcare, she said.

“Strategies for a successful retirement include planning for the transition, and it is not just about finances,” she said in her paper Is There Life After Retirement? at the three-day Second National Men's Health and Ageing Conference yesterday.

Dr Low, head of Health Research Development Unit at Universiti Malaya, said that being physically active and optimistic were also essential in having a successful retirement.

“There are four stages of retirement that everyone goes through - honeymoon, reorientation, stability and termination,” she said.

Malaysia's retirement age of 55 (56 for civil servants) is one of the lowest in the world.

In 2000, there were two million Malaysians above 55, making it 9.2% of the total population.

Dr Low said there could also be a positive or negative impact on retirement, depending on the person's viewpoint and his or her state of “preparedness.”

“It is also important for retirees to keep themselves physically active, by walking, jogging or doing gardening.

“Being physically active acts as a confirmation that they are alive, can continue to face challenges and are trying out new things,” she said.

However, there is also another reason why retirees should continue to stay physically active.

In a community survey carried out on men over 50 in Selangor, Dr Low discovered that a “significantly higher proportion of retirees had heart problems, joint pains and prostrate problems” and other chronic illnesses compared to active men or those who were still working.

“People have to start changing their mindset about retirement and retirees. Those approaching retirement age should mentally prepare themselves for the transition, and others should not look at retirees as useless people.

“With preparation and the right state of mind, you can still live happily-ever-after, after retirement,” she concluded.

http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2006/6/18/nation/14577499&sec=nation

Last Sundayy....

Kampung den

Last Sunday my 2nd cousin kawen... Anak Pak Ngah Ali. My Nenek's house kat sblh rumah pengantin ni... /me aisey lupa nak snap gambo rumah kg ku...

No: 133 alamat rumah kg den... ;-)

Ni laa warga EMAS last one yang tinggal.... adik beradik my my arwah atuk... yang lain sume da takde...
My atuk passed away 1976... kira nenek ni terre siut....

dulu2 masa muda Nek Pah ni cantek siut... siap kena kidnap lagi dek orang Melaka sebab cantek sangat. hehehe

Kek tu kakak ku yang buek.... den pack2 kan dlm benda alah tu...
sedap siut... pastu kami jugak la yang tibai! hehehe
/me promote my sis specialities.... hehehe

kawasan rumah... lecak skit.... baru lepas hujan hari Sabtu aritu....

tempat makan pengantin.... :)

pastu after 1pm... I had to rush pi KL... sampai around 2pm.... abesh the whole team futsal Cho kena tipu dek Azie... siut je....

Citer 2 weeks ago, after futsal training kat opis jam 11pm:

Azie: "Korang... jemput dtg... 25 June"
UG: "Weh... ko nak kawen ke Azie??" *bising giler ler after that
Azie: " Ape... aku tak boleh kawen ke? :p"
UG: "Weh, ko make sure setahun ko tak bleh pregnant tau... UG needs keeper!!! hehehe nak jimba2 kalu pakai k----m!"

kwang3x....

me and Azie... *shue inteprem kat belakang with Mama... :)

sampe2 je gue ngan Mama kat Kg Baru... wa di sambut oleh Azie... boleh tak??
Wa tergamam laa... serious shooot!!! Cam... "Eh, bukan ko sepatutnye bersanding ke?? What the hell you're doing here???"
si Azie ni plak ngan selambe cakap.... "Gua da abesh bersandeng laaa"

Undergrounders... with Mama jugak! ;-)

har har har.... ghupe2nye... semua WAKENABABE!!!!
adek dia yang kawen daaa....

patut la pijak semut pun tak mati! hahaha kakak dia ni....
ape kes pijak semut tak mati??? kwang3x....

Aksi2 panas.... lebeh hangat daripada biasa

23 June 2006... 3 days after Fenot ponye buffday..... berjumpe juge saya ngan mak boyot ni... err lom boyot lai ler.... masih maintain cun gitu.... ahaks.. ;-)

Fenot:: ok kan aku da belanje buah berangan tadi!!! hehehe

Me, Cik Peejah and my GM went for lunch kat IOI Mall, Puchong...
camne lagi 2 orang ni bleh tersesat gak kat situ.. wa kureng arip

anyway... gila happy to meet up with u two!!!

Aku suh jual awat hang tak jual weh??? <-- konon2 aksi bergaye ngan phone si Zetty tuh...
sesuei ke saya pakai phone itu??

Fenot, Zetty, me and my GM <-- yeay... best kemana2 bawak kamera.. cam paparazi plak...
yang pakai baju maroon tu... from AA to B okeh? hahahaha
*biarlah rahsiaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa.... ;-)

Cik Peejah, Fenot and Zetty... <-- korang tau tak... meje tu cam bersih giler kan?? tapi 5 minutes after that... penuh ngan makanan.... tapi tu ler... takde bukti la plak! :-(

korang tauje ler... Zetty and Fenot kalau menketedarah.... abesh fenuh satu meje! hahahaha

Ya Allah serious hari ni best gilers....
Fenot... take good care ait... anak buah aku tuh! hehehe
Zetty... keje jgn tak keje... maintain muka ayu tu bila berYM eh! :p
weh... add aku... iazerin
Cik Pijah... thanks for your time...

wokeh... my GM is expecting me to help her on something... solat jab then I'm OFF....
sok balik kg... ada weddings... ahad pun ada wedding... /me tengok perut ku....

take care people...

Jemputan Ke Seminar

Dear Readers,

Menyimpan wang dengan kaedah tradisional

mungkin bukan caranya untuk mengekalkan
modal dan mencapai potensi sebenar wang
anda. Sementara inflasi terus menghakis
kuasa membeli wang anda, adalah kritikal
wang yang anda perolehi hasil dari kerja
tungkus-lumus anda akan terus bertambah.

Pada masa yang sama, anda juga harus
mempelbagaikan pelaburan anda agar tidak
semua telur disimpan di
dalam sebuah raga (Do not put all your eggs
in 1 basket).

Apa kata anda pertimbangkan pelaburan untuk melabur di
dalam Unit Amanah (Unit Trust).

Dengan Unit Amanah, wang anda akan dilaburkan secara
meluas di dalam ekuiti atau/dan sekuriti pendapatan
tetap. Malah pengurus-pengurus dana yang profesional
akan memantau pelaburan untuk anda.

Di Public Mutual, kami menawarkan siri dana-dana Unit
Amanah (Islamic) yang lengkap bagi memenuhi keperluan
pelaburan anda. Sama ada anda seorang pelabur
konservatif, sederhana atau agresif, kami mempunyai
dana yang sesuai untuk anda.

fyi, satu seminar pelaburan
bakal diadakan. Anda semua dijemput untuk
menambahkan ilmu tentang option2 pelaburan di Public
Mutual. Butir-butirnya adalah seperti berikut:-

Tarikh : 22hb Jun 2006 (Khamis)
Jam : 6.45pm - 9pm (*Surau ada di sediakan di Club)
Tempat : Committee Room 1, Lake Club, Taman Tasik
Perdana, Kuala Lumpur.

by invitation only.
Please reply (by 12pm, 22 June) untuk reservekan seat
ye.

Terima kasih.

Rgds,
CHO

::Thought for today::

Semalam baru lepas attended Agency Meeting kat Bangsar yang telah hampir 3 minggu ku tak pi... memang semangat berkobar2 la lepas pi tu. hehehe

For sharing purposes... this thot I got it for May 2005... tapi takpelah... as long as I can share them... it would mean a lot to me and all of u... apa kata kita fikir sejenak... ;-)

Love, Truth & Happiness are within you, try to express them through your actions and you touch the source of Bliss.

In today's world, people experience 2 types of poverty:

1. The poverty caused by lack of food, clothing and shelter; and
2. The poverty caused by lack of love and compassion.

Of these 2, the second type needs to be considered first - because if we have love and compassion in our hearts, then we will wholeheartedly serve those who suffer from lack of food, clothing and shelter - AMMA

citer pasal perut

ada mcm citer kalau nak citer pasal perut....
i'm still facinated camne ngn ciptaan Allah yang amat sopistikated....
just imagine... nasi2/ayam/itik/daging2 yang u all makan tu....
bila masuk je kat dlm perut dia jadik benda lain??
masa kecik2 dulu I slalu imagine nasi tu jatuh sebutir-sebutir kat usus. hehehe

camne nak dapat perut camni eh???
any ide-ide yang menarik?
hehehe....


kuss semangat... jgn jadik camni udah ler ye....

so, any tips nak dapat 6-pax cam kat atas tu?? now ni ada 2-pax je... har har har..

Trip to Langkawi

Coti-Coti Malaysia Ke Langkawi....

Hish... been ages tak update blog ni kan? kan? kan? hmm.....

Last month... after balik from Bali.... ntah tiba2 teruja sesangat nak pi ke Langkawi... I was so tension ngan keje... seriously.... I need to break a leg. Amy plak tiba2 ada meeting kat Kuala Perlis. hmm... apa lagi.... tanpa segan silu kami ber3 naik ke Utara rite after opis hari Khamis tempoh hari....

Sampai Kuala Perlis jam 4pagi. boleh tak?? Abes segala mak nenek lagu bollywood, hindustan, goheadgostan aku da nyanyi tuk hilangkan ngantuks ku itu....

Checked-in kat Hostel kat depan jeti tu.... trus ZZZzzzz....

Next day... tengah hari... Langkawi here I come!!! :-)

Sape2 nak pi Langkawi later.... I have some good deals la for u all..... buzz me and I'll give u this mamat punya phone no.... oteh? ;-)

mcm nak dok lama je kan kat sana?? hehehe beg punya la besar... satu seluar panjang pun eden tak bawah. samdol betul...

Apa la khabar kamben2 ku kat KL eh? hahahaa

jom kita tengok apa yang ada kat sana?! tu adalah Dataran Lang....
ada helang besar kat sanun....

oh before that.... let me show u....
kat tengah2 tu my kapal layar... just bought aritu.... tapi tak leh guna plak....
kunci dia promoter tu tertinggal kat opis dia yang terletak beribu2 miles dari M'sia.
ade ke patut???
U R FIRED!!! hahaha

antara tempat2 menarik yang kami sempat lawati...

Dataran Lang - ada helang yang besau cam kat belakang tu... nak amek gamba penuh, tukang amek gambo kena guleng2.. hehehe

Kota Mahsuri - tempat ni dulu tak begini... now da ada muzium wa cakap lu... best..best....
sape plak laaa dua orang monyet yang dok enteprem tu eh? hahaha...
seluruh warga yang ada kat situ cam terkedu kejab laa tgk aksi kami berdua. har har har

posing sakan kat makam mahsuri. hehehe... naseb baik malam tu tak ngigau okeh....

oh ya... welcome to my tempat simpanan tongkang2 ku eh...
eh.. tongkang tu yang camne eh?? err sampan? err... apo eden nak letak nama kat benda2 alah nie eh?? hahaha kapal kecik? yatch? hmm.... apo2 la labu....
nice place tu tengok sun set tempat nieh....
mlm ada BBQ gitu.... very the romantika gitu...

niat di hati nak panjat gunung yang ada kabel car tu.... tapi da lewat.... :-(
sempat amek gambo je....

oteh.... sampai sini dulu lah.... seriously wa tepu... tak tau nak update ape lagi....
this weekend ada banyak aktiviti menarik... will update more eh! hehehe
since balik from Langkawi ni... tak amek gambo pun....
charger battery kamera tertinggal kat Langkawi... boleh tak???

So, end of 1st day.... nanti continue 2nd day eh....

Public Mutual Declares Distributions for 4 Funds

Malaysia's largest private unit trust company, Public Mutual declares gross distributions for four of its funds. The distributions declared are:

• 4.50 sen per unit to unitholders of the Public Ittikal Fund (P ITTIKAL). The closing price for P ITTIKAL's net asset value (NAV) on 26 May 2006 was 85.64 sen per unit.


• 4.00 sen per unit to unitholders of the Public Balanced Fund (PBF). The closing price for PBF's NAV on 26 May 2006 was 75.68 sen per unit.


• 1.50 sen per unit to unitholders of the Public Islamic Equity Fund (PIEF). The closing price for PIEF's NAV on 26 May 2006 was 30.62 sen per unit.


• 1.25 sen per unit to unitholders of the Public Dividend Select Fund (PDSF). The closing price for PDSF's NAV on 26 May 2006 was 25.69 sen per unit.

The above distributions declared are for financial year ending 31 May 2006.

Chief Executive Officer Lam Kam Yin said, P ITTIKAL which is an Islamic equity fund, is the winner of five (5) awards from The Edge-Lipper Malaysia Fund Awards 2006 and The Star/Standard & Poor's Investment Fund Awards Malaysia 2006. "It generated a one-year return of 15.94 percent for the period ended 12 May 2006, according to The Edge-Lipper Fund Table dated 22 May 2006," he said. The fund aims to achieve steady capital growth over the medium to long term period by investing in a portfolio of investments that complies with Syariah Principles.

PBF, on the other hand, is a balanced fund that won an award from The Star/Standard & Poor's Investment Fund Awards Malaysia 2006. The fund generated a one-year return of 13.59 percent for the period ended 12 May 2006, according to the same The Edge-Lipper Fund Table. PBF aims to provide a steady income and capital growth over the medium to long-term period.

Meanwhile, PIEF which is an Islamic equity fund, aims to achieve capital growth through a diverse selection of growth stocks that complies with Syariah Principles. PIEF generated a one-year return of 12.32 percent for the period ended 12 May 2006, according to The Edge-Lipper Fund Table dated 22 May 2006.

As for PDSF, it is an equity income fund that generated a one-year return of 13.38 percent for the period ended 12 May 2006, according to the same The Edge-Lipper Fund Table. PDSF aims to provide steady recurring income by investing in a portfolio of stocks which offer or have the potential to offer attractive dividend yields.

Public Mutual, a subsidiary of Public Bank, is the largest private unit trust company in Malaysia. It manages 29 funds for more than 800,000 accountholders. As at end April 2006, the company's total funds under management was over RM13.4 billion.