Everything is up. Petrol. Groceries. Your regular teh tarik at the mamak. Most financial advisors will tell you to fight inflation by buying things: gold, REITs, or ASNB units. I’m going to tell you to fight inflation by not buying anything at all. Welcome to the “Kosong Method” of financial planning. Kosong means empty. No …
Let me show you something uncomfortable. A RM30,000 emergency fund sitting in a basic Maybank savings account earns 0.25% per year. That’s RM75. Meanwhile, Malaysia’s inflation rate in March 2026 was 1.7%. That same RM30,000 loses RM510 in purchasing power annually. Do nothing for three years? You’ve lost almost RM1,300. No emergency happened. You just got poorer by being …
Let me guess. You walk into Lotus’s or AEON with a rough budget in your head — maybe RM300 for the week’s groceries. You grab the usual stuff. Biscuits for the kids. 3-in-1 coffee for your night shift. Sweet soy sauce for your ayam masak kicap. Then you reach the cashier. Total: RM412. And your …
If you feel like your ringgit isn’t stretching as far as it used to, you’re not alone. From the kopitiam to the petrol station, the steady climb in prices is a daily reality. Inflation isn’t just an economic term; it’s a silent force eroding your purchasing power, making long-term goals feel distant and monthly budgets …
You didn‘t go through years of medical or pharmacy school to be broke. Yet, here you are: juggling shift work, on-call duties, and perhaps a growing sense that your financial life is on autopilot—or worse, stuck in survival mode. In my work with Malaysian healthcare professionals, I meet two distinct mindsets. There’s the houseman desperate …
A few weeks ago, a client in her late 20s sat across from me. Pharmacist. Single. Good salary. She looked at her projected retirement number — RM2.8 million — and asked me a question that stopped me cold: “If I save RM2.8 million but never get to travel, never enjoy time with friends, never take …
I had a consultation with a senior healthcare professional last week. Let’s call her Dr. Aina. She is 55 years old, at the top of her field. Her days are long and her schedule is full. When she sat down in my office, she didn’t want to talk about expanding her practice or opening a …
The news is in: the Employees Provident Fund (EPF) has announced a dividend of 6.15% for both Conventional Savings and Shariah Savings for 2025 . If you’re a healthcare professional in Malaysia—whether you’re a nurse working 12-hour shifts in a government hospital, a pharmacist managing a busy community pharmacy, a physiotherapist building your own patient base, or a dentist juggling a …
As a financial planner helping clients across Malaysia, I often see a common financial dilemma: either too little emergency savings or surprisingly large cash reserves sitting idle in low-interest accounts. While having emergency savings is a cornerstone of financial health, having too much might actually limit your long-term wealth potential. Here’s how to tell if …
Ever glanced at your payslip, saw you’re officially in the T20 (Top 20%) income bracket, and let out a weary sigh? You’ve worked hard to get here, but the feeling of being “rich” seems like a distant mirage. Instead, you feel the constant pinch of financial obligations. If this resonates with you, you are not …
