by Helmi Hakim | Jul 1, 2012 | Investment
These past few months, I received smses, and msges asking me, if I have purchased my Danga Bay property in Malaysia.
My answer is NO. Here are the reasons.
1) Instable political landscape in Malaysia
Strong governance is very important in a country that you will like to invest in. The recent Bersih rally, worries me a lot. Roads are blocked and businesses suffered. Police officers were beaten up and their patrol car overturned.
I believe, the opposition parties have a stake on this rally, and they will continue to push for such rallies in the future. They will make Malaysians angry with the current government. When people are angry, they will venge it on the streets. When people venge it on the streets, it will get ugly. I am expecting more demonstrations in the future.
This type of democracy is unhealthy. Foreign investors like me, will not want to invest in countries with disastrous political turmoil.
2) Crime rates
Everytime, I flipped the papers, watch the tv for news, it is always about crimes in Malaysia.
You can take a look here. http://www.facebook.com/#!/photo.php?v=379757725412953
When such things occur, I don’t feel safe. I don’t feel secure. It will not stop me from visiting Malaysia, as a tourist, but as an investor, I will think 2,3 or 4 times, before making an investment decision.
Hope, my explanation clarifies.
by Helmi Hakim | May 11, 2012 | Miscellaneous, Motivation
How many of you have watched this latest movie, “The Avengers”?
For every 10 of you reading this blog post, I can guarantee at least 5-6 of you have watched this movie, because it is soooo popular… 🙂
My facebook feeds are flooded with people “checking in” the cinema to watch the movie or filled with snippets of reviews, line of thoughts about the movie. Overall, the movie was awesome, though I feel, some part of it should be trimmed away. i love fast action movie
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So, what does Avengers got to do with financial planners in Singapore?
When I first watched the movie with my girlfriend, the first thing that struck me about the movie other than the explosive stuffs, was the importance of taking responsibility and teamwork.
As a financial planner, clients entrust us with their money. We need to take responsibility to manage their money well, recommending them plans, consistent with their risk profile.
We need to take responsibility to provide them with a trusted counsel, by placing instead of our company
We need to take responsibility to be open, honest and transparent with all our clients, at all times in our professional dealings. Do not suppress information, omit, delete or adjust, just to induce a sale..
If we can take responsibility, take ownership to help our client meet their financial goals while advocating such principles…….. This is what I call, the champion mindset with a loving heart! 🙂
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Second lesson that I get from the movie is the power of teamwork.
Recently, NTUC Income Muslim financial consultants did a roadshow at the Halal Food Expo 2012. To get our company to subside the rental fee + set up cost, we need to hit a certain target, a multiplier of the total roadshow costs.
As this is one of the roadshows that involved high costs, naturally the target is high. A few of our top producers contributed, but we still plagued with an irritating shortfall. Alhamdulillah, when all gives their share, we hit the target set, and get our roadshow subsidised.
This can only happen with the power of teamwork. Instead of relying on the producing consultants in the team, all put in effort and give their bit. That is where, goals are achieved and barriers are lifted. Hope you learn something from this post. Insya’Allah. 🙂
by Helmi Hakim | Feb 13, 2012 | Investment
Past few days, there is a problem with my server, and my site was brought down….. headache
I emailed the server technicians in US, and was told one of my old sites (I host a few websites with them), was unsafe, and because of that, they have to bring down all my sites, including http://www.helmihakim.com …
Imagine the stress, that I have…. Smses from clients, emails from those who advertise their web on my sites started to stream in, asking me, what happened exactly. :/
This is when, I suddenly remembered, the famous theory of diversification. 🙂
Thus, what I did, is that I get another web hosting company from Singapore to host http://www.helmihakim.com … I DIVERSIFY my risk. Should my old server went down, my lovely, informative and exciting blog will still be live.… Conversely, if my new server is down, other sites on my old server are still fully operational.
So, again, the famous theory of diversification. 🙂
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Today, I am going to share with you a simple diversification strategy to invest in funds based on your age.
“If you are 20 years old, you have some money to invest. You can put 20% of your money in bonds and 80% in equities.
If you are 50 years old, you have some money to invest. You can put 50% of your money in bonds and 50% in equities.
If you are 70 years old, you have some money to invest. You can put 70% of your money in bonds and 30% in equities.”
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So you see, the younger, you are, the more money, you can put in equities because, you can take risk and have a longer investment time horizon. This is just a simple strategy that you can employ….but of course, if you want to get a detailed risk profiling assessment of yourself, it is best to consult your financial consultant. Enjoy your day! 🙂
by Helmi Hakim | Dec 9, 2011 | Investment, Miscellaneous, Motivation
Few days back, I received a whatsapp message from my girlfriend.
She was talking about buying a beautiful eyeshadow, which was on sale at Tampines Point.
As she knew that I am a prudent and careful buyer, also a voracious saver, she asked me for help……. She asked me to motivate her, not to succumb to the temptation of forking out HUGE dollars from her wallet, to buy the beautiful eyeshadow……..shehasmanyofit
Did I succeed to convince her? The answer is a miserable, NO! 🙁
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Today, I am going to share with you, simple yet pragmatic strategies on how, I curb myself from squandering and spending all my money on things that, I may not need.
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Strategy No 1: Stop before you buy
The first strategy to curb yourself from spending is to procrastinate in buying…
Keep telling yourself, that you are going to buy the stuffs that you are looking at, the next following day.
I assure you that you will soon forget about it. 🙂
Tell yourself, “Do I really need this?”
How many hours, must I work to get back this money? How much is it worth, if i invest it @10%/annum in 10 years, 20 years, 30 years?
Strategy No 2: Pay yourself first
When you get your income, pay your personal savings plan first. You can instruct bank to do an automatic deduction to your personal savings plan. You can get endowment plans, or invest in funds, stocks or commodities like gold…
By setting aside that money for savings seperately, you will reduce the tendency to spend all that you have at once… 🙂
Strategy No 3: Destroy all credit cards except one. and pay full balance on time
Have you ever wonder, why the banks keep offering you attractive freebies, reward points and rebates if you sign up for their credit cards?
It is because, they know, when you have a credit card, you will tend to spend MORE when you have access to this easy credit…. They want you, to owe them money and pay interest…
My recommendation for you, is that, only keep one credit card for use, and pay the full balance on time….
That’s it!!! I hope, the 3 strategies, that I share with you, will be of much help for you to curb yourselves from spending over your limits…. 🙂
by Helmi Hakim | Nov 15, 2011 | Investment
Example, you are an investor. You invest your $10,000 in a financial instrument, giving you 9% interest, compounded on annual basis for 10 years. How much will you get, at the end of the 10 years?
If you are a financial planner, like me, you will definitely reach out your financial calculator and punch in these figures, to get the answers. idoiteveryday
Set: End
n: 10
i%: 9
PV: -10,000
FV: Solve
…..and in an instance, you will get $23,673.63
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In my “financial planning for wealth manager” (catered for high networth individual) class, I learnt to calculate the answers, without using a financial calculator. You can use a normal, scientific calculator to get the answers.
How do you do that?
You can calculate it this way…..Use this formula….. Principal (1+interest)number of years
Just take 10,000 (1+0.09)10 = $23,673.63
Easy right?
For now, just remember this formula. In the next blog post, I will share with you the intricate mechanics of this formula. Share this blog post, if you find it useful! 🙂
