On the 26th
of November 2014, a finance management seminar organized by AKPK was held in
UM. Mr. Siven was the speaker for the evening and he shared some information
about personal finance management.
Did you know that 67 bankruptcies
were filed every day in 2014? Most bankrupts are those in their mid-30s and
40s. Imagine a life of debt and misery that has befallen upon them their relatively
young life but how did they come to such a situation? Another frightening
statistic is the fact that Malaysia has the highest household debts in the
whole of South East Asia. These statistics serves to show that poor personal
finance management is a big reason as to why many Malaysians are in debt.
However,
the number one factor that causes people to get dragged into debt in the first
place is medical reasons. Getting sick is inevitable for all of us but exactly
when and where is still an unconceivable part of the future. The uncertainty
element is one that scares many but most people are still hesitant to be
prepared for the worst. The lack of an emergency fund is the key reason why
they cannot cope with this sudden efflux of money. This is where AKPK comes
into place as they offer financial education, financial counselling and finance
management programs.
Financial
planning is one of the most effective ways of acquiring and maintaining healthy
finance. Budgeting and tracking cash flow can reduce expenses and the risk of overspending
which will eventually cause one to end up in debt. Saving is also part of
financial planning and the speaker recommends monthly savings of up to 30% of
one’s nett income. This is apart from the emergency fund that should amount to
3- 6 months salary. The lack of discipline and initiative to save will inevitably
and eventually lead a person into financial crisis.
Mr Siven also warned about the danger posed by
scams and. People are very likely to become victims of these swindles as they
wish to attain any easy access to wealth. Just like Skim Cepat Kaya and the Geneva gold scheme, bad investments and
greed are the main factors of financial crisis. We were advised to be very
careful when investing as the number of swindlers is very high. Another kind of
bad investment is the purchase of expensive things that depreciates very fast. For
example, investing in cars is a very bad investment strategy as cars’ value drops
very fast. Proton Tiara is a shiny example of poor investing as the value of
the car now is only a few hundred ringgit and has very expensive spare parts. Having
a car is a necessity nowadays, but buying an expensive car that will last
longer is the wise thing to do.
As
a conclusion, start your financial plan now by having a budget, tracking cash
flow, saving part of your monthly allowance and avoiding bad investments. No one
is too rich to not manage their wealth and no one is too poor to plan their
finances. It is not the amount of money that counts as the path to wealth lies
in the way we manage it.
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