“I feel joy in successfully building up a business in a very competitive market space, where we’ve seen players come and go,” said Dato’ Teng Chee Wai in a resplendent maroon tie.
For over 20 years, Dato’ Teng has headed Affin Hwang Asset Management as the Managing Director where he steered the company through different economic and market cycles. Under his leadership, the company has since grown leaps and bounds becoming the fastest growing asset manager in Malaysia.
But Dato’ Teng says the company’s journey is far from over as it positions itself for its next growth phase through a new brand identity – AHAM Asset Management (AHAM Capital). Smart Investor sat down with Dato’ Teng to find out more about the company’s new journey including future growth plans as well as life lessons on leadership and wealth.
A New Chapter
With the completion of the company’s acquisition by CVC Capital Partners (CVC) on the 29 July 2022, the company sought to rebrand itself to augment its brand positioning as a trusted wealth partner as well as carve its own distinct identity as an independently managed asset and wealth management firm.
The rebrand included a name change and a new corporate logo that is reflective of the company’s new growth ambitions, while also affirming its commitment to clients in building trust.
“Our new brand identity AHAM Capital marks the start of a new and exciting journey for us and our clients. As a name that is already widely used and familiar amongst clients and business partners, the simplified brand name builds upon the positive brand equity of the company’s asset management capabilities as well as its people that has distinguished it over the years,” Dato’ Teng said.
In January 2001, Affin Hwang Asset Management Berhad started operations with just RM20 million in clients’ assets. Today, its total assets under administration (AUA) have grown to over RM75 billion as at 31 October 2022 – a true feat unto itself.
According to Dato’ Teng, this would not have been achievable without three important stakeholders who have been instrumental to the success of the company: its clients, employees and shareholders. With the trust of its clients, AHAM Capital has grown exponentially by nurturing and deepening relationships with its clients especially handholding them through volatile market cycles.
“One thing that always sets us apart is how we are also invested alongside our clients. The total staff investments into AHAM Capital’s own funds surpassed RM150 million this year demonstrating our own belief and confidence in our solutions,” remarked Dato’ Teng.
As for the employees who keep things running at AHAM Capital, they are the backbone of the company and integral contributors to the business. This is important as good talent is hard to come by and retain according to him.
Finally, it is also important to have shareholders that understand the business and are very supportive. Dato’ Teng and his team have been able to run the business in an independent manner and manage to keep the company’s culture intact.
Realising Synergies
With CVC Capital Partners (CVC) coming onboard, AHAM Capital is looking to take their business to greater heights by embarking on three strategic growth pillars: wealth management, innovation and regionalisation. Collectively these three strategic thrusts would help transform AHAM Capital into becoming a leading independent wealth and asset management company in Southeast Asia.
This begins with looking to investing in greater human capital and distribution networks to offer more investment solutions to the public.
“CVC Capital Partners brings a breadth of synergy that AHAM Capital can tap upon. These include CVC’s wide connections in the marketplace that can help produce a ‘network effect’ to grow our business particularly in terms of alternatives and private market offerings. On top of that, CVC Capital Partners brings with them the discipline and expertise which allows for information sharing for us to learn from them directly.”
“Learning from their financial metrics as well as how they manage a lot of their portfolio companies will enable us to understand how to manage the business and risks involved as we go to regional markets,” said Dato’ Teng.
Levelling Up With Innovation
Innovation and entrepreneurship are also very much key ingredients in the success of AHAM Capital and embedded in its corporate DNA. The company’s innovation journey started back in 2018 with the set-up of the Innovation Lab Department.
“Whether it is for transactions, internal processes, making things more efficient, or offering solutions via different platforms and wallets – digitalisation is the way forward.”
“Though it may be expensive, the pandemic really showed us that digitalisation was the right move to make,” explained Dato’ Teng.
AHAM Capital also recently made waves in the digital space through its partnership with Versa to launch a digital cash management solution.
“Our partnership with Versa which simplifies access to money market funds (MMFs) has been a stepping stone in our innovation journey. By doing away with the cumbersome registration and lock-in period that comes with fixed deposits (FDs), our collaboration with Versa has allowed more Malaysians to start saving from as low as RM1 in a MMF which is traditionally only used by corporates and high-net worth individuals.”
“We are also looking at other alternative investments like cryptocurrency. The younger generation has experience in it and believes in its potential. Although I have yet to start investing in Bitcoin personally, we need to find solutions to address this growing demand to appeal to a new generation of investors,” claimed Dato’ Teng.
Anything to do with ESG (environmental, social and governance) has become a trending hot topic these days, and its adoption rate is faster than ever. With more than nine out of ten publicly-listed companies adopting ESG as part of their goals and business plans, its popularity is more than just a buzzword in the industry. Some of the ESG benefits are higher returns on investment, better financial performance, and reduced business risks.
Smart Investor spoke to Datuk Wira Ismitz Matthew De Alwis, executive director & Chief Executive Officer at Kenanga Investors Berhad; Dr Sumitra Nair, head & senior vice president of Strategy & Policy at Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC), and Azzahraa Annuar, director of Governance, Risk & Compliance at edotco Group to get a deeper understanding about ESG and ESG benefits.
This includes exploring the impact of an ESG focus to their business and industry, what makes for a successful ESG deployment, the challenges they have faced, and the trends to look out for. While we all know what ESG stands for, what it means, and what are the ESG benefits could be entirely different for each industry.
We got the ball rolling by asking, “Why is it important to your business, and how does ESG impact your industry?”
Datuk Wira Ismitz Matthew De Alwis, executive director & Chief Executive Officer at Kenanga Investors Berhad
To which Datuk Wira Ismitz Matthew De Alwis answered “The impact of ESG on the financial markets has been significant. Investors and businesses alike are beginning to acknowledge that an ESG-driven perspective promises stronger and more resilient economies and businesses. As a result, this awareness has changed the way individuals and institutions invest. For example, many are now focusing on mitigating their portfolio exposures to carbon risk.”
“As a partner to the sustainability agenda, we are dedicated to the goal of developing Malaysia’s impact investing landscape. Currently, we believe that the local environment faces issues in capacity building to address sustainability issues such as lack of competencies, skills, and technical awareness on ways to adopt a sustainability-driven top-down model at each level of the organisation. Recognising this, Kenanga Investors, as an established financial institution, must actively seek out and collaborate with regulators and other corporate entities finding its footing within the local green economy,” De Alwis added.
To ensure sustainable performance for Kenanga Investors’ stakeholders, they are confident that the integration of carbon exposures, ESG ratings, financial quality metrics and active engagements, amongst other factors, in a diversified and risk-controlled portfolio has historically resulted in better risk-adjusted returns for investors than just plainly investing in a broad market index.
Dr Sumitra Nair, head & senior vice president of Strategy & Policy at Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC)
Adding to that, Dr Sumitra Nair is of the opinion that “ESG is about carrying out business in a way that is respectful to people and the planet, and about generating profits ethically. This is important to ensure that businesses can carry out their operations in a sustainable manner. For example, operations of a business could be impacted by climate-related risks, or governance related risks, hence impacting business continuity.”
A sustainable business model also improves productivity by uplifting employee motivation and loyalty, and boosting talent attraction and retention. There is also increasingly strong evidence of a connection between good corporate practices and financial performance – an ethics premium.
According to Ethisphere’s Ethics Index, the world’s most ethical companies outperform a comparable index of companies by 24.6% from January 2017 to January 2022.
The Global e-Sustainability Initiative (GeSI)’s ‘Digital with a Purpose: Delivering a SMARTer 2030’ report estimates that digital tech can directly influence 103 out of 169 UN Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDG) targets. The same report has identified key technologies that have the highest potential influence on the world, and more specifically on the UN SDGs.
These include high speed internet, cloud computing, internet-of-things, machine learning, AI, digital reality and blockchain. Such technologies can help to reduce environmental impacts, as well as narrow socio-economic disparities, which strengthen transparency and governance.
For example, from an environmental perspective, the effective use of digital technologies is projected to reduce global Green House Gas emissions by 15% by 2030, which translates to one third of the global 50% target reduction. This is mainly using digital tech solutions in the energy, manufacturing, agriculture and land use, buildings, services, transportation, and traffic management.
“Therefore, the digital tech ecosystem plays a very significant role in the agenda of ESG in Malaysia. It is also very much aligned to the recently launched national strategic initiative, Malaysia Digital (MD), which seeks to increase the overall ecosystem value sustainably,” shared Dr Sumitra Nair.
Azzahraa Annuar, director of Governance, Risk & Compliance at edotco Group
Meanwhile Azzahraa Annuar has said: “It is not about what ESG means to me, but it is about what ESG means to us. At edotco, ESG is central to how we do our business from planning to execution. To be a sustainable business, we believe that a strong governance is key to ensure our business is run in the most equitable manner.”
To edotco, their belief is that internet connectivity should be viewed as part of a human right in today’s world. As such, they are passionate when it comes to taking care of the communities around their towers and even more passionate when it comes to their greatest asset, that is their people.
They will continue to invest in innovation as innovation is the key to net zero emissions. Each component of ESG with the E, the S and the G are equally important and must be addressed together as one, and not separately.
What Are The Key Factors For Successful ESG Deployment?
It’s all fine and well to talk about ESG benefits, hopes and dreams and plans, but how do we ensure a successful implementation of these policies and intentions?
De Alwis shared: “We believe that there are a few critical factors required for a successful ESG implementation. To begin, a supportive and knowledgeable board is critical in steering the company’s ESG agenda as well as building the appropriate corporate culture, which leads to effective ESG implementation. Furthermore, the ESG goals must not only be specified, but also time-bound and practical during the implementation process. Policies, plans, and oversight mechanisms must address these issues both qualitatively and quantitatively.”
Kenanga Investors believe that the continuous delivery of consistent top performance stems from the premise of an effective stewardship and active ownership approach throughout the investment value chain. In search of long-term value accretive investments, they aim to influence investee companies as shareholders through the promotion of responsible and sustainable practices.
Nair has four key factors for successful deployment of ESG in Malaysia:
1. Leadership commitment is key
ESG must be driven from the top, ideally from the Board, top management and across the organisation.
2. ESG culture and mindset
ESG should be seen as a way of doing business, rather than a separate function or set of responsibilities.
3. Taking a longer-term perspective of business performance
The over-emphasis on short-term gains may impact a company’s ability to manage its ESG risks which may manifest in the longer term. For example, the focus on cutting costs in the short-term may result in non-eco-friendly or non-ethical purchasing decisions.
4. Measuring and managing ESG impact
As the saying goes, “what gets measured, gets done”. Similarly, defining and tracking ESG performance metrics is key to managing ESG impacts.
For Annuar, it is all about the culture. “At edotco, we believe in the mind, the heart, and the hands. This means, we inculcate the culture of a sustainable world for the future, for the next generation in the minds of our people. We hire passionate individuals who fit within edotco’s culture and core values to ensure our people have the heart of edotco. And finally, when we build our towers, our products, we continue to innovate for best possible output.”
These intentions are not without its challenges. According to De Alwis, the lack of knowledge and comprehension of ESG among our retail investors in Malaysia was one of the hurdles that they faced in implementing their ESG objectives and ESG benefits. Businesses also lacked transparency and reliability when it came to ESG data and disclosure.
Furthermore, when it comes to ESG practises, there is a lack of consistent standards, measurements, and focus as some may focus on climate change, whilst others may focus and emphasise on human rights issues.
With MDEC’s ESG focus this year starting with a highlight on climate change (which has been globally acknowledged as one of the most critical issues of our time), MDEC has also recently launched the Malaysia Digital Climate Action Pledge (MDCAP), which aims to galvanise digital tech companies to commit to specific actions addressing climate change, and to support the decarbonisation of SMEs.
“At the same time, MDEC with our partners such as the UN Global Compact Malaysia and Brunei (UNGCMYB) will provide guidance and know-how to the digital economy ecosystem via a Digital Economy Climate Playbook, and training programmes,” shared Nair.
These initial efforts are tailored to address some of the key success factors MDEC has identified in their journey to encourage digital companies in Malaysia to adopt ESG practices and reap the ESG benefits.
These include:
1. Raising the level of awareness and understanding about ESG amongst digital businesses;
2. Access to resources to address ESG risks and compliance – for example funding, talent, etc;
3. Encouraging digital tech companies to create shared value through opportunities arising from ESG trends – for example, via digital innovations/solutions that help governments, businesses, or society to achieve ESG-related targets and the many ESG benefits.
For edotco, Annuar discloses their two key challenges: “Firstly, macroeconomic challenges mean cost pressure continues to be central. We need to ensure we deliver a strong return for our shareholders amidst such a challenging environment. Our supply chain is struggling, the communities around our towers are struggling. This impacts our operations tremendously. Nevertheless, our engineers continue to innovate, and we manage to come up with LCS i.e., a low-cost structure in a country like Bangladesh.”
“Secondly, whilst we are certain with our Scope 1 and Scope 2, we are still struggling with Scope 3. This will be an area of focus for edotco in 2023 to ensure our carbon emission calculations are based on international standards and continue to be validated independently. We will also be reviewing our supply chain as part of this initiative,” she added.
We have to look forward. So, saving the best for last, we ask our experts: “What are the key trends you see gaining traction for ESG? What are the areas of growth amongst the pillars to look at in 2023?”
De Alwis responded with, “During the COVID-19 pandemic, there was a significant increase in ESG awareness. During this period, many firms suffered financially, whilst others with ESG policies were more protected from the pandemic’s consequences and were able to outperform their peers and competitors.”
As ESG awareness continues to grow, trends within the ESG economy increases in tandem as well, most notably is impact investing. Finally, we will be able to reap the ESG benefits.
ESG Benefits
“This was apparent in the deployment of financial firepower to investments and causes that could provide quantifiable ESG benefits, allowing investors to see and measure the beneficial effects of their investment,” he added.
There is currently a significant trend in assuring the interconnectedness of human and developmental needs. Assuring that these needs are fulfilled in a way that ESG benefits society while being environmentally and ecologically sustainable is a delicate balance. The blue economy and nature-based infrastructure are two examples of this.
For Dr. Nair, climate change is an immensely important topic – one that has been gaining traction for the past ten years.
“It is evident from the World Economic Forum’s Global Risk Report that climate action failure and extreme weather conditions dictate global risk factors,” she said.
MDEC took a proactive approach to launch the MDCAP initiative to advocate climate action amongst the digital economy ecosystems. Besides, social factors such as forced labour and the livelihood crises of the B40 group have also gained a strong pull for ESG in Malaysia.
In 2023, we can expect other areas of the environmental pillar to grow, such as the carbon market, carbon tax and carbon offsetting, which involves carbon capture, storage, and sequestration activities. Regarding the social pillar, the topic of diversity and inclusion in the workplace is growing in prominence, be it gender, age, ethnicity, or other forms of diversity.
Finally, Annuar points out that ESG is not a one size fits all around the globe. It varies for different economies and markets.
“It depends on which side of the world you are in. In developed markets, the focus is more on the governance aspect. In developing markets, the focus is more on the environmental aspects, while in the underdeveloped markets, the focus is more on the social aspects.”
For edotco, they have done independent reviews to see what are the areas that they need to focus on including materiality assessment. They will continue to focus on strengthening every pillar because they believe that all three are equally important.
The following story is based on an actual series of events with some names and circumstances fictionalised and any similarity to the name, character or history of any person is entirely coincidental and unintentional. We will be taking a closer look at why the executor of will is not as easy as it seems to be.
Elson and Jason were good friends for many years. They have met each other since primary school and even graduated from the same university. Growing up together, Elson would fend off those who bully Jason at school. They would also go to their makeshift secret base and play the whole afternoon after school.
Jason was the only child in his family, and because of that he sees Elson as the big brother that he never had.
As time goes by, these two boys have become men. They have both secured good jobs and beautiful and kind wives who bore them healthy children. It was a family that any man would be proud of with much love and warmth.
What seemed to be an ideal life for Jason soon came to a tragic end. What seemed like a normal cough, turned out to be lung cancer. Elson’s heart was shattered, he felt as if he was betrayed by a person that he trusted the most.
“How dare he leave me behind?” was the first thought that came into Elson’s mind when he learnt of Jason’s departure. There were so many dreams that they had yet to achieve together.
Elson made a promise to Jason that he will take care of Jason’s family and everything else. “Rest in peace my brother, I got you. See you on the other side.”
Jason’s wife, Yvonne found Jason’s Will. It was a simple Will that named her as the beneficiary of every asset that Jason owned. Elson was named as the Executor in the Will. She wasn’t sure what an Executor meant, but since Elson’s name was mentioned, she guessed he may have known a thing or two about it.
That starts with being the appointed executor of will to sort out what was left behind by Jason. Even with no knowledge or experience in administering the Estate, Elson thought, what could go wrong?
A few months later, with the assistance of a lawyer, Elson obtained the Grant of Probate from the High Court. It was quite a straightforward though tedious procedure. All he had to do was to look out for the lawyer’s details of Jason’s assets.
With the Probate in hand, Elson thought all he had to do now was to transfer the assets according to Jason’s instructions in his Will, which is quite clear cut to Elson. Jason’s Will basically says to give all his assets to his wife.
Yvonne asked, “What about my husband’s debts? I know he has a few credit cards that needs to be settled.” Elson had an idea, if he could transfer all the liquid assets quick enough, then there would be nothing left for the bank to chase after.
After all, Jason is long gone now. Who would sue a dead person? Yvonne was sceptical at first, but with enough assurance from Elson, she accepted everything that Elson was transferring to her. Elson had bypassed all Jason’s creditors in administering the estate.
A few months have passed since, notice of due payment received by Yvonne has now become a letter of demand with a letterhead from a law firm that was appointed by the banks. To make matters worse, Yvonne also received a letter from the Inland Revenue Board Of Malaysia that is addressed to Jason to declare his income.
As much as Elson tried to ignore the demands from Jason’s creditors, he soon learned that he was obliged by the law to pay up the creditors first, especially the tax due, which was one of the first priorities.
All attention is now on Elson, with letters that legal action will be taken against him personally if he did not satisfy Jason’s creditor.
“How does that even make sense? I’m just here to help, now I have to pay the price?!” Elson shouted at the lawyer whom he engaged for advice on what to do with the demands. It is either Elson calls back the assets that he has transferred to Yvonne, otherwise he will have to compensate the Estate’s creditors from his own pocket.
Elson is now desperate. Yvonne had used most of the liquid assets that were being transferred to her. “I have warned you, it was you who assured me that everything is fine. I have used the money. I can’t give it back.” said Yvonne.
While Yvonne was trying hard to scavenge whatever was left, Elson has been trying to see what he can sell off on his own to pay.
It Is Tough Being The Executor Of Will
It was a very bad time for both Elson and Jason’s family that they must face. Being an executor of will sounded very easy, many did not expect there to be so many legal pitfalls until it was too late.
It always starts with good intention to help, but often ends up in a relationship breakdown between the executor of will and the beneficiaries. Elson felt guilty that he had made the matter worse than it should be.
Yvonne had to pull back from some commitments especially the children’s education expenses. Yvonne had to face the embarrassment, but for Elson, he is at risk of legal liabilities. If he is not careful, he could be facing criminal charges as his lawyer said to him this could be defrauding creditors if their claims are not recovered because of his negligence.
A long legal nightmare is the likely outcome, that’s why it is not that easy being an executor of will.
Rockwills International Group, now in its 27th year, pioneered professional will writing in 1995 and has since evolved into the leading estate planning specialist in the country. It is today the largest provider of solutions and support services in the areas of trusts, succession, management and distribution of wealth. It has shareholders’ funds exceeding RM50 million. It has done over 280,000 wills and 15,000 trusts and hold more than RM25 billion in assets under trust.
Without a doubt, a lot of people consider money to be crucial in their life. But the question on everyone’s mind is that, can money buy happiness?
Many of us work hard to earn money so we can buy the things that will make us happy and comfortable. While others might look to money for personal fulfilment, which may involve impressing others by flaunting an expensive handbag or dress.
Nevertheless, due to its importance, we can find many people fight over it, hate, or adore each other because of it.
Some claim that you can buy happiness with money because they believe it will give them power, while others might disagree. Can money buy happiness?
From a personal standpoint, I do not agree that we could buy eternal happiness with money.
But then, to buy the things we need on a daily basis, money is a basic requirement in our life. Although having a lot of money may be utilised to buy upscale and pricey items, the satisfaction would only be temporary. Additionally, you cannot buy the feelings of love and devotion with money.
Everyone wants money, but it could not possibly purchase everything. This is true, especially when it comes to intangibles things such as general knowledge or a loved one who has passed away and the experiences you shared with them.
In a famous book written by Robin Sharma, entitled “The monk who sold his Ferrari”, the main character named Julian Mantle was a lawyer who find himself burned out and feeling dissatisfied despite his amazing achievements. He was a successful lawyer, rich, and highly sought by clients for law advice and cases.
Suddenly, no one was able to contact him after the incident where he passes out in a courtroom due to a heart attack. He just disappeared and was nowhere to be found.
After three years he came back to meet his friend, John. John was astonished to see Julian glow in joy, looking wiser and healthy. Julian shared with John the lessons he had learn while meditating with the Himalayas Sages-and surprisingly all his happiness now has nothing to do with money.
Remarkably, we can find many people who felt the same burnout experience and a have different definition to happiness as Julian.
In a similar case, Tiger Woods’s ex-wife, Elin Nordegren net worth’s skyrocketed to more than USD200 million after their infamous divorce. While she admitted that money did make things easier for her as she took her children away to somewhere secluded for quite some time from reporters and journalists, she did insist that money could not buy her happiness or put her family back together.
In fact, she claimed her marriage to Woods was one of the happiest days of her life.
Can Money Buy Happiness For Kids?
In India, a man shared over the net that he had broken up with the love of his life and was heartbroken. His friend’s advice him to smoke weed (cannabis) to forget his pain. They agreed to go buy it together.
Arriving at the place they went to; they saw three children playing nearby. The heartbroken man offered to buy them ice-cream and all three of them could not stop smiling while eating. The man said it made his day and he never took the weed.
He then asked for the kids’ permission to take photo of their smiling faces for memories. He would frequently look at the beautiful picture and smile. In his opinion, he claimed money can and does buy happiness!
On the other hand, my beloved father, once told me, if your too rich you can become crazy if you do not know what do with the money. Thus, I guess by having money with a purpose would then mean something, and the type of purpose mentioned here should be more akin to empowering yourself and others.
It should also be inspirational, memorable, helpful, useful, or important.
Despite how great it is, money cannot alter how you feel about yourself. Most individuals make this mistake. They want to be strong, fashionable, or respected. Most importantly, they want to be admired.
However, there is nothing that money can do to alter how you feel about yourself. Money won’t make you proud of who you are if you do not feel so yourself and it will definitely fail you if you have insecurities in believing yourself.
As to answering the question whether can money buy happiness, majority would agree that it does not. But to some it certainly can relieve you some pain, comfort, safety or help when you are in need, thus, that is happiness.
To me, happiness is something internal and intangible. Therefore, to obtain it obviously is not going to be from something external and tangible.
Azah Atikah Binti Anwar Batcha has Accounting, Finance, Auditing, and Islamic Finance background. She has worked with two of the Big four firms prior to pursuing her postgraduate studies at University of Technology Malaysia (UTM), Kuala Lumpur. She can be contacted at aaabwrite@gmail.com
As we navigate these turbulent times of uncertainty, we are constantly under pressure to make investment decisions and to look for investment strategies or styles that can enhance returns for our long-term investment.
As we are advised to brace for the impact of increasing market volatility, inflation risks and interest rates while investing, we are dissuaded from investing based on rumours when making investment decisions.
We are always cautioned to conduct more analyses with facts after verifying from trusted sources such as Bursa Malaysia, Bank Negara Malaysia and Securities Industry Development Corporation (SIDC) before investing.
In the past, we may pin the blame on rumour mongers and the lack of information for our inability to invest well. But with more information available now, are we more prolific in making informed decisions that produce better investment outcomes?
While some of us are instilled with knowledge for investing, some still perceive investing as a daunting task. Inevitably, many of us are still prone to making suboptimal decisions despite religiously adhering to tips from the pundits.
While Is It Hard To Make The Right Investment Decisions?
This is because making the right investment decisions also becomes trickier with an ever-increasing assortment of financial products to suit our investment palates.
We are also reminded by the investment community to keep our emotions in check when investing. This is because emotions can lead to perverse and suboptimal decisions in investing.
We feel lousy and we may blame it on luck to make us feel better while some of us become mentally depressed when things turn out badly. Some of us cringe at making investment decisions and shy away from financial products after encountering some painful experiences in the past.
Thus, can we ignore our emotions when investing? If not, do we need robo-advisory services or digital asset managers proclaiming on investing without emotions to help us in making the right investment decisions?
On the other hand, according to research, not exhibiting the appropriate emotions could impair our ability in making investment decisions.
So, why are we so hard on ourselves? After all, we are emotional creatures. We can’t possibly ignore our emotions when investing. I suppose if we could understand our emotions and what drives our emotions in the process of decision-making, we could be less subjected to unhealthy thoughts.
As decision-making is a complex process, we tend to use mental shortcuts termed as ‘heuristics’ by psychologists to solve problems instead.
According to psychologists, we simply make judgements and decisions by consulting our emotions. We ask ourselves: “Do we like it? Do we hate it? How strongly do we feel about it?”
We form opinions quickly, make judgements and take risks as expressions of our feelings on the basis of mental images without realising why we are doing so.
Researchers suggest that our brains exhibit tardiness in adjusting our impression once our mind has been framed. Festinger posits the ‘theory of cognitive dissonance’ and encapsulates that we will try to look for information that reaffirms our initial opinions so that the opinions we form earlier do not contradict the information we receive later. This somewhat explains ‘confirmation bias’ and ‘first impression bias’.
This could also explain why we may fall prey to financial scams. Scammers who have a positive image and are good at manipulating our emotions with words that mesmerize us are more likely to gain our trust.
To avoid becoming an easy target by malicious people, we may need to think like scammers and beat them at their own game. Of course, we are not advocating that we act like scammers but playing defence all the time in their game can be tiring.
We need to play like a striker as the situation warrants it or find ways to change the playing field when dealing with scammers. In short, as we could not possibly suppress or ignore our feelings and emotions, we have to try to manage our emotions.
Numerous books and articles offer tips that we could adopt to improve and practise our emotional intelligence, so we can make better investment decisions.
Our decisions can be also easily affected by our moods. The effect of mood on decisions is well documented in journal articles. When we are in a bad mood, we tend to be more pessimistic about the future.
We are more likely to invest in risky assets such as equity, and conduct less critical analyses when we are in a good mood, which predisposes us to underreact to negative information about our investments. Besides this, there are many interesting journals and articles on weather effects on stock returns in the West.
For instance, Hirshleifer and Shumway in their journal article titled: “Good Day Sunshine: Stock Returns and the Weather” have unearthed that our financial decisions may be affected by sunshine. Sampling 48 developed and emerging countries, Yuan, Zheng and Zhu in their studies titled “Are Investors Moon Struck? – Lunar Phases and Stock Returns”, advanced the notion that the performance of stock exchanges is significantly higher during the new moon.
Thus, unless we are emotionally intelligent, we may not be able to make wise decisions even if we use digital asset managers for investing. But again, do you think we will be happier if we don’t use heuristics but instead utilise and filter reams of information before arriving at a conclusion?
Researchers contend that conducting too many analyses may also lead to ‘analysis or information paralysis’, a situation where we are unable to make investment decisions or reach a conclusion due to information overload.
Dr. Audrey Lim Li Chin is a lecturer and a researcher at Multimedia University (MMU) Melaka. She teaches International Finance and Derivatives. She is particularly interested in retirement planning, mental health, Fintech especially in Blockchain and data analytics. She is also a Certified Financial Planner, (CFP) and is currently pursuing Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) certification.
I get questions dealing with investors from different backgrounds. Some of them are very experienced investors and traders. These investors sometimes have questions especially when the markets are driving them nuts. Let’s take a closer look at the year 2022 so far, and the market outlook for 2023.
So far this year, the markets around the world have certainly affected a lot of people ranging everyone’s emotions from greed to fear.
The old market saying is that when everybody is thinking the same thing, then nobody is thinking at all. For this issue, instead of the usual format, I will answer some ‘difficult’ questions raised by some of my investors in our recent meetings.
The questions may be simple, but the answers are complex. However, I was surprised that nobody asked me about the market outlook for 2023 for gold, since the yellow metal has since morphed into a holy object of worship.
Q1. Are you still bullish on China and its market outlook for 2023?
With boots on the ground in Shanghai and Hong Kong, I remain a long-term bull on the Chinese consumer sector. While some foreign investors remain skeptical, there are strong long-term reasons for investors to allocate to China.
Local research and insights matter more than macro news flows for anyone investing in the Chinese markets. The Chinese markets have corrected to a point that valuations mean solid companies are already priced for the worst-case scenario.
Therefore, the potential for good risk-adjusted returns are promising in the coming years.
Q2. I’m very concerned about the shock of inflation putting more pressure on the markets. What is your view on inflation and the market outlook for 2023?
Wasn’t Ukraine or another nuclear war one of our greatest concerns a couple of months ago? From the market perspective, the worst part of the inflation is behind us. From a poorer consumer perspective, inflation or the rising cost of living will continue to be a problem in the coming years.
Q3. What is your view on the global economy and market outlook for 2023?
I do not care for the official definition of a recession. The current economic cycle is unlike anything we have seen before in that it has absorbed the impact of a pandemic, followed by a war in Ukraine. Economic data has been distorted for months. If you look at the history, central banks are always too late to engage their efforts and therefore, they very often have to go too far in their response.
With the backing of more than 400 PhD economists, the Fed’s Chairman Powell, one of the most powerful people on the planet, keeps aggressively tightening an economy that is already showing a lot of weakness with inflation peaking, so economic risk is surging going into 2023.
Q4. Do you think Powell will want to destroy the US economy in order to save it?
He will back off. If you believe in the destruction theory, pack your bags and head for the hills with canned food and ammo. The last thing Powell wants is to be blamed for a global financial accident before Christmas. Oops… he already blew up Great Britain and he probably has more phone calls from other central bankers.
On this note, The Bank of England is in a mess and it looks like the UK is an emerging market now. Politically, it is out of the frying pan and into the fire for the UK government.
Q5. Can you tell me more about the volatile stock market and its market outlook for 2023?
Please leave your emotions aside. It is foolish to try and guess the short-term conditions that are so volatile and unpredictable. The long-term bull market is still alive and kicking despite the stomach-churning volatility we have experienced so far this year.
The human mind always projects the recent past onto the future thinking that bad times will never end. Prices could go a lot higher and longer than people think in the coming months and years.
What happens after this long-term bull market ends and how will we deal with that later?
At one stage, the sentiment was so bad especially during the Covid-19 crash. Well, the stock market is a forward-looking mechanism. Extreme volatile markets shake out the weak hands and give long-term investors a strategic mindset and a chance to buy at lower valuations to multiply their wealth.
Q6. 2022 has been unusually volatile for US equities. A renowned economist predicted the market outlook for 2023, and a stock market crash is expected in the coming months. Do you agree with him?
No crash or meltdown. The stock market and the economy are very clearly two different things. What if the bear market is not over and I am wrong? As a mere mortal, I have been wrong many times in the past.
Legendary investor Peter Lynch reminds me that in our business, if you are good, you are right six times out of ten. You are never going to be right nine times out of ten. I do not put all my eggs in one basket.
Q7. What is your view on cryptocurrencies and its market outlook for 2023?
Grab a coffee and enjoy the wild ride. Sentiment can change on a dime and it is not a surprise that most institutional investors have concerns around the risk and volatility of the cryptoasset market.
However, it can further be seen empirically that a simple ‘buy-and-hold’ strategy with an allocation as small as 1% of an investor’s portfolio has resulted in an outperformance of more than 10% over the past seven years. I am a long-term bull and patience is a virtue.
Q8. You have been a US Dollar bull for a number of years now. What’s the market outlook for 2023 for US Dollar, are you still bullish?
The US Dollar’s strength has been fairly obvious in the last 12 months, so if anyone is shocked by this, it is probably time to go hands off on his or her finances and get professional help. Since May 2021, the US Dollar has risen 19% against the Euro, even reaching parity in recent weeks.
It has appreciated 20% against the Pound Sterling, and is up 28% against the Japanese Yen. The market outlook for 2023 is that I am still bullish, but the US Dollar is overbought at the current levels.
Q9. Where is the best place to put your money in the world today?
Drumroll please… and sorry to disappoint the doom and gloomers, but the US remains the best place for both safety of capital and future growth prospects.
Q10. Why have you been able to stay calm despite the chaos so far in 2022?
Those who joined the industry a few years ago are now learning that maybe their success or arrogance in the last few years had more to do with a rising tide lifting all ships and exposure to higher beta areas, than it did their investing acumen. Everyone is a rational investor when things are going higher every day.
I have seen multiple cycles and survived much worse than this and yet some ‘experts’ are terrified. Regular meditation gives me a sense of calm, peace and balance in my work and overall life.
Q11. What about the Russia- Ukriaine War?
I do not have anything to add as the war continues to drag on.
Q12. What about oil?
I am not the bear you are looking for. The spike in oil prices we have seen in spring and early summer has faded. Macro worries will continue to keep a ceiling on crude oil but the fundamentals have now set a solid floor.
OPEC has shown that it is willing to do what is needed to keep markets tight. At some point down, the price range will break to the upside given how constrained supplies will be going forward.
Q13. What is your advice for those who turn to cash as a source of diversification?
I have come across people who choose to hold significant amounts of cash. I can feel their pain. The supposedly conservative strategy of putting money in the bank is actually destroying your purchasing power at a rather alarming rate.
There are other investment opportunities which can help to meet their financial objectives. They just might have to look a little harder.
Well there you go with what’s been going on for the year 2022, and what the market outlook for 2023 is in store for us.
YH Wong has over two decades of experience in the financial services industry. His clients include high net worth investors and boutique institutions such as family offices and investment partnerships in the region. He is currently a senior partner with Satori Consultancy Ltd, a financial services company regulated by the Mauritian Financial Services Commission. He can be reached at yhwong@satoriconsultancy.com.
Our Human Resource Minister has recently declared that the Employment (Amendment) Act 2022 with these HR changes effective 1 January 2023. It was earlier announced to take effect from 1 September 2022 but was then postponed.
What Are The HR Changes Effective 1 January 2023?
Among them are:
1) Amendment of Section 37 – Maternity allowance increased from 60 consecutive days to 98 consecutive days.
2) New Section 41A – Restriction on termination of pregnant female employee unless due to wilful breach of a condition of the contract of service under subsection 13(2); misconduct under subsection 14(1); or closure of the employer’s business. (2) Where the service of a female employee under subsection (1) is terminated, the burden of providing that such termination is not on the ground of her pregnancy, shall rest on the employer.
3) Amendment of section 60A – in subsection (1), by substituting for the word “forty-eight” wherever the word “forty-five” appears – to reduce work hours in a week.
4) New Section 60FA – Paternity Leave – a married male employee shall be entitled to a paid paternity leave at ordinary rate of pay for a period of seven consecutive days in respect of each confinement. The paternity leave under subsection (1) shall be restricted to five confinements irrespective of the number of spouses.
5) New Part XIIc – Flexible Working Arrangement – anything contained in the contract of service, an employee may apply to an employer for a flexible working arrangement to vary the hours of work, days of work or place of work, in relation to his employment. The employee must apply in writing. Employer may reply within 60 days from the date such application is received, to approve, or refuse the application. The employer shall inform the employee in writing of the employer’s approval or refusal of the application under subsection (1) and in the case of a refusal, the employer shall state the ground for such refusal.
6) New Section 69F – Discrimination in employment, which employer is liable to a fine not exceeding RM50,000 and shall also, in the case of continuing offence, be liable to a daily fine not exceeding RM1,000 for each day the offence continues after conviction.
7) New Section 81H – Notice on sexual harassment – an employer shall always exhibit conspicuously at the place of employment a notice to raise awareness on sexual harassment.
8) Blacklisting employers from employing foreign workers for breaches of labour legislations.
With these HR changes effective 1 January 2023, it seems that employers will be burdened to prepare for the impact the changes will cause their organisation. These includes increase in costs, reduction in daily operation’s efficiency, measuring employees’ performance, disciplinary and financial issues.
Employers have no option other than to accept the implementation of these HR changes effective 1 January 2023. Otherwise, a fine will be imposed.
Many employers are now beginning to bounce back after facing the pandemic for two years. Just when their businesses are going back to normal, the new minimum salary of RM1,500 came into effect on 1 May 2022, which have stunted their recovery.
As a HR Consultant, I’ve heard from clients that the current amendments are more lopsided towards the employees, while employers’ plights are not being heard by the Government. There was no proper discussion between the employers to gain their feedback on these matters.
In the business world, employers play an important part in providing jobs to the community. There are 1.15 million Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in Malaysia, which makes them a special breed and needs to be taken care of. Already there’s a lot of regulations that they have to comply with, failure which will result in fines and jail time.
Employers should not be underestimated as if they did not plan ahead for the future. They have their employees’ interest at heart, so the organisation can prosper. When the employees perform well, the company makes profit, and benefits will be passed around.
It is indeed a struggle to keep up with the rise in inflation and interest rates, which affects both employees and employers. It is hoped that the Government will help small companies thrive. As the proverb goes, “Where there’s a will, there’s a way”. There must be a way to create a win-win solution for both parties.
But as of now, get yourself ready with these HR changes effective 1 January 2023.
Rozina Md Derus is the Managing Director / CEO of Click H & A Consultancy Sdn Bhd. The company started in 2013 and have helped hundreds of business owners, mostly from the young generation who are actively involved in doing business but with zero knowledge in handling their PEOPLE.
Malaysian Ringgit (Ringgit) is now hovering around the RM4.40 mark against the US Dollar (USD) after hitting a low of RM4.74 in early November 2022. The pressure eased slightly after Pakatan Harapan won the 15th General Election and Dato’ Seri Anwar bin Ibrahim was sworn in as Malaysia’s 10th Prime Minister.
Today we will be taking a closer look at corruption and the weakening of Ringgit has affected the nation as a whole.
A quick throwback, we had a similar experience during the Asian Financial Crisis back in 1998, where Ringgit fell to its lowest at RM4.71 against the USD and this had caused a massive impact to Malaysia as foreign investors pulled out their investments from our country.
Malaysia subsequently pegged the Ringgit at RM3.8 to the USD and it was eventually removed in 2005 when we were under Tun Dr Mahathir bin Mohamad’s leadership. Today, as the cost of goods, prices and business costs continue to soar due to the continued depreciation of Ringgit, Tun Dr Mahathir had suggested that the Ringgit should once again be pegged to the USD.
Currency pegging due to devaluation is a nightmare for investors in the country as well as those who intend to invest in Malaysia. It causes Malaysia to lose its monetary sovereignty in managing our own monetary policy based on our economic situation, instead of the economic situation of the country which the Ringgit is pegged to.
One way to regain the Ringgit’s strength is through Foreign Direct Investments (FDI), plus it is the most desirable form of country capital inflows because it is less susceptible to crises and sudden stops. However, there are many factors that could affect FDI inflows and outflows.
Malaysia had experienced a major fall with regards to FDI. Malaysia went from being one of the preferred ASEAN countries to invest in, to being behind the Philippines, Singapore, Indonesia, and Vietnam. In the year 2020, Malaysia had posted a drop of 68% in FDI according to Malaysian Investment Development Authority (MIDA).
The Story Of Corruption And The Weakening Of Ringgit
One of the main reasons why investors choose to stop investing in our country is due to corruption. Malaysia had scored 48 points out of 100 in the 2021 Corruption Perception Index (CPI) as reported by Transparency International. The level of corruption in the host economies is regarded as one of the most important factors that determines which country will benefit from FDI.
This is where you can see the link between corruption and the weakening of Ringgit.
In relation to this, Department of Statistics Malaysia (DOSM) revealed that although Malaysia’s FDI dropped in 2020, the accumulated investment increased to almost RM700 billion during the pandemic.
The 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) scandal has dampened investor’s sentiment towards Malaysia amidst growing concerns over the extent of corruption, levels of impunity, and overall erosion of the rule of law. Another reason that caused foreign investors to exit the local stock market is due to the uncertainty of Malaysian politics.
In May 2022, researcher David Seth Jones published a research paper which contains his analysis regarding Malaysian corruption. He mentioned that the public and private sector corruption are rampant in Malaysia, and is reflected in the prevalent cases of bribery, embezzlement, and fraud.
Furthermore, it was specified that bid rigging in procurement, money laundering at the highest levels in major investment such as logging, infrastructure, and procurement projects are the main causes of corruption. His research findings were backed by data gathered from the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) and Malaysian government reports combined with the reports provided by international organisations such as Transparency International, the World Bank, PricewaterhouseCoopers, media reports, and various academic publications.
He further stated his findings that corruption remains widespread in Malaysia due to the weak enforcement of anti-corruption measures, political interference within investigation and prosecution of corruption cases, the politics-business nexus, and the issue of money politics as well as limited impact of anti-corruption measures and bodies.
It is proven that FDI inflow is positively correlated to the convenience of the entrance of the market, economic stability, political consistency as well as free from corruption. Thus, with the FDI inflows, it can help strengthen our Ringgit once again.
Government has a crucial role to play in keeping the country clean of corruption by taking up the necessary control measures. Strict law enforcement and governing without fear or favour, severe punishment from the courts and effective government administration are pivotal. Only through this, the goal to reduce corruption can be achieved.
As corruption decreases, we can expect FDI to increase, and ultimately Malaysia will prosper and is able to realise its potential as the Tiger of Asia. Let us pray that the new government can make a positive impact in eradicating corruption from our beloved country.
It is clear that there’s a strong link between corruption and the weakening of Ringgit.
About the Author
Azah Atikah Binti Anwar Batcha has an Accounting, Finance, Auditing, and Islamic Finance background. She has worked with two of the Big four firms prior to pursuing her postgraduate studies at University of Technology Malaysia (UTM), Kuala Lumpur. She can be contacted at aaabwrite@gmail.com
A Unit Trust is an investment scheme that pools money from many investors who have similar investment objectives, strategies and risk appetites. The pooled moneys are then invested into a diversified portfolio of investment assets, such as shares, bonds, and cash equivalents.
Lets look at how you can get favorable returns when investing in unit trusts.
It is important to know that when when investing in unit trusts, it should be a long-term game. But how long is long, you may ask?
Unit trusts need to be invested for at least 10 years to see favorable results. As upfront service charges maybe relatively higher than investing in shares, it is advisable to keep it there for the longer term.
If you invest in a fund which gives consistent distributions, the distributions declared will eventually bring down the average cost per unit of your fund. And the longer your maintain your fund, the lower you will see your average cost per unit.
“Only buy something that you’d be perfectly happy to hold if the market shut down for 10 years.“
Warren Buffett
and
“If you aren’t thinking about owning a stock for 10 years, don’t even think about owning it for 10 minutes.”
Warren Buffett
Investing is not trading. Investing has a totally different objective. Investing is about minimizing risk to generate wealth over the long term. Do some homework about the fundamentals and financial status of the stocks invested, the direction and management of the company and the industry potential.
Golden Rule No 2: Dollar Cost Average
When investing in unit trusts, it is important that you do dollar cost average (DCA). Dollar cost average means investing a fixed amount on a regular schedule, usually on a monthly basis. Investors get more units when prices are low and fewer units when prices are high.
DCA works favorably for funds with a higher volatility factor and consistent distributions.
While Dollar Cost Average means putting a fixed amount in regular intervals, Value Cost Average means investing a lump sum when prices are low to bring down their average cost by a substantial percentage.
If RM 1.00 drops to RM 0.50 how much have we lost? 50% right?
If we purchase then at RM 0.50 and it goes back up to RM 1.00, how much have we gained?
Most people would say 50%, but look carefully. Do the math. 0.50 to 1.00 is doubling up, which means we gained 100%.
Let’s take a look at this illustration below:
Having said that, do ensure that the fund stocks have strong fundamentals meaning the fund consists of stocks which are of value when investing in unit trusts.
Golden Rule No 4: Have a balanced asset allocation
As we all know, the popular term in investment is ‘Don’t put all your eggs into one basket.’ The same holds true when investing in unit trusts.
Although the funds asset allocation are already pretty diversified in different asset classes eg. industrial, consumer, technology, telecommunications, etc., we can also spread out our portfolio to:
local, regional and global
equity, balanced and bonds
big cap, mid cap and small cap.
For the younger group, investing in some bonds or money market funds acts as a reserve when there’s a huge market correction. Switch over some of your bonds/money market funds to your equity funds (Value Cost Averaging principle) to bring down your average cost per unit.
This rule is more applicable for the younger age group, from your 20’s to 40’s. Reinvesting your distributions will bring down your average cost per unit in the long run.
Leverage on the power of compound interest when you reinvest your distributions.
Golden Rule No 6: Choose a reliable fund management company with strong fundamentals and good investment track record
There has been cases where smaller fund houses were founded and went bust. Qualification of the fund managers were questionable. Do your homework on the fund management company before entrusting your money with them.
Be wary of money games and ponzi schemes that promises a monthly return of 3-10% (?!) No proper and legitimate investment vehicle promises those kind of returns. Get out while you can.
A legitimate investment company would be regulated by FIMM (Federation of Investment Managers Malaysia) and Securities Commission and are willing to disclose their financial statements.
Remember These Rules When Investing In Unit Trusts
Do make sure you abide by the six golden rules when investing in unit trusts. More importantly, do consult your trusted unit trust consultant/financial advisor/investment professional who have extensive experience in the field before embarking on an investment plan.
Avril Yap, CFP , IFP, CBC, is a practitioner with a large fund house. She is passionate in empowering people with money management and investment skills as doing so will enable them to fulfill their purpose, live meaningful lives and have better relationships. Her vision is to develop more individuals to be CFP Practitioners with a focus on self growth and strong positive values.
I approached one of my couple clients, Chris (the husband & not his real name) and I told them that I was helping my other clients plan financially, I ask them whether they would like me to help them. Here is how the conversation about saving on housing loan interest went.
“Would you like to buy an AUDI TT for free after you settle your housing loan?”
They were very curious and our conversation went on like this. (This is an article I wrote in 2015 and is re-posted & re-edited.)
How to buy an AUDI TT for free after you settle your housing loan?
Chris: “Are you trying to sell me insurance or unit trust?”
Me: “Neither”
Chris: “I’m itching to buy an Audi TT & I’m not sure if this is a good time”
Me: “I could help you buy your AUDI TT for free after I help you settled your housing loan”
How To Save 50% Of Your Housing Loan Interest In Half The Time
This was their situation:
Property purchase price RM2.5 Million (semi-D in Petaling Jaya area)
Loan Interest Rate was 4.4%
Loan Tenure (no of years to repay back the loan) was 35 years (420 months)
Loan Installment is RM10,471/month
Total Interest Paid for the whole duration was RM2,147,808
After implementing my advice:
Total Interest Paid is RM 1,068,815, which is a 50% reduction in interest paid.
They finish paying off their loan in 19 years and 2 months (230 months), which is 45% earlier (15 years and 10 months OR 190 months).
He could buy 3 new AUDI TT worth RM285,000 with the interest savings. (Of course, AUDI TT’s price would have gone up, but still, if he did not apply this strategy, imagine the 3 AUDI TTs the bank managers would have driven off with)
Can you guess what did I suggest to him to do?
Save an additional instalment of RM4,000/month into his housing loan
Ensure their Debt Payment Ratio is still on a Healthy Level (<35%)
Ensure their Total Saving Ratio is Healthy (>33%) & their net worth is still growing
This was what I suggested to him
Because they are ‘SAVERS’ (people who like to save money in their bank account), they could channel some of their monthly savings into paying off their housing loans.
But one has to take note to maintain a balanced lifestyle of not over-saving as you do not want to lose out on any investment opportunity. Here, it shows how big of a difference it makes over time.
1. Save an extra of RM4,000/month on their housing loan, making the instalment RM14,471/month. Here you can deposit the extra RM4,000 into a Current Account facility provided by most Malaysian banks by now, which can be used to withdraw later (in the event of emergency)
2. Currently their Debt Payment Ratio is only 27% & they can commit up to 35%. Debt Payment Ratio measures how much income is used to pay ALL Loans (housing loan + car loan + personal loan & etc) divided by your NET INCOME (Your Gross Salary net off EPF, Socso, EIS & PCB). Since they don’t have any car loan, personal loan or any other loan, then all their funds can be channeled to the housing loan.
3. By doing (1), they are able to save almost RM 56,551/year in housing loan interest (Total savings on housing loan interest = RM1,078,993)
4. The amazing thing of ‘Saving’ the extra RM 4,000/month actually improves their networth. You don’t actually ‘spend’ it, here is how it works
(Net worth is assumed that Current Market Value of the property grow at 4% per annum)
5. Interestingly, RM 3,731.25 of your RM 4,000 goes directly to pay off your principal. So it seems like you were force saving in your bank account, is just a different account call loan account
Save on housing loan interest, he calls off his purchase and postpones his booking
After I have shown them the above, he called off his purchase of his Audi TT & redirect his savings to clear off his housing loan interest. Postponing his purchase after he settled off his housing loan first, he is convinced the savings from the housing loan interest will be able to buy him a free Audi TT.
*Do take note that you should only do this for a property that you live in. For property investment, you may not want to use this strategy. Talk to your financial planner or a professional first before taking action.
*DISCLAIMER – All strategies listed here are not a recommendation nor advise. The article is written purely for the purpose of education and journaling only. The content of this article is an expression of my opinion and should not be taken as professional advise. If you are seeking professional advise, please consult me personally . You should do your own research and/or seek expert’s advice when overcoming your debt circumstances.
Ka Hoe is a Licensed Financial Planner having a “Financial Adviser Representative” (FAR) with Bank Negara and “Capital Market Service Representative License (CMSRL) – Financial Planner” with Securities Commission. He is also the Founder of J Advisory, a Personal Finance Academy that helps struggling Malaysians elevate their financial well-being with proven tools, systems and strategies. For more real-world case studies, you can reach me at my blog – https://jadvisory.asia/
