Is your insurance protecting you?

Why you ask, is your insurance protecting you?

Well, you should know this story that appear in www.thestar.com.my/opinion

Baffled by insurance coverage rule

There seems to be some confusion in how our insurance companies operate insofar as car insurance is concerned. Please, can anyone spell out the real situation?

Here is my dilemma: A few months ago, a car knocked into mine. The driver admitted to causing the accident due to his negligence. He told me not to worry as he had comprehensive insurance and his insurers would pay for all the repairs to my car.

My car was quite badly damaged, especially the front of the vehicle.

It was towed to a workshop which was on the panel of workshops of the insurance company. That was when my nightmare started.

At the workshop, the foreman informed me that my car was more than 10 years old, and according to Bank Negara’s directive, it could only be reimbursed 60% of the insured value.

Is this true? It does not make sense to pay for insurance coverage at the market value of, say, RM36,000 when, if the car is involved in an accident, the owner can only claim 60% of this amount, meaning RM21,600 maximum, if the vehicle is more than 10 years old!

Could the car be insured at 60% of the market value (RM21,600) then, and the owner pays insurance coverage for that amount? How can you make a person pay insurance at market value of his car (RM36,000) but when it comes to reimbursement, you restrict him to only 60% of the sum he paid?

The foreman told me that in order for them to repair my car with new parts, I had to pay the difference between what the insurance company (the one that covered the driver who knocked into me) is paying (60% of insured value) and the actual cost to repair the car.

I refused and now my car has been in the workshop for almost four months!

Every time I visit the workshop, the foreman tells me it is difficult to find spare parts from the kereta-potong garages.

In fact, I had requested for a total write-off of my car and to be given the 60% of the insured sum. But here was another disappointment. The workshop’s foreman told me that the insurance company refused this option.

So, it seems, as a consumer, I am at a total loss. I haven’t been able to use the car for the last four months (and God knows how long more I have to wait), and in the end, even if I get it back, it will be hardly worth its weight in scrap metal, seeing that every part was replaced by spares from the junkyard.

Bank Negara, if this is the true situation in the car insurance industry, it is high time we make changes to benefit the consumers.

If there is any organisation or body out there who is willing to take up my case, I’ll be more than happy to take up the offer.

MORE THAN FRUSTRATED
Puchong

Pro and con of joint property ownership

Yes they are pro and cons of joint property ownership.

For me, it favour the lenders, because they can hold all parties responsible, thus lowering their risk.

A default means all parties got tainted records. Live long alongs n lelongs.....

Kredit: theedgeproperty.com

A good place to learn about property. Don't know how long it will last.

Know your brokerage fee

Investing in shares must be done via brokerage, either you buy or sell, they take a cut irrespective of your gain or lose.

The big boys always had favourable fee structure from the brokerage house. It happen everywhere, in unit trust as well as share trading. Therefore, always go for the best rate.

Ask the brokerage with the high rates, what rate they give go the big boys?

Yes, you are the one that cross subsidized their profitability.

I am waiting for a fintech disruptor.....  

Kredit: redangpow.com

How much money you should have saved at every age

Hey planned for money to take care of you rather than you work for the money forever.

Here's how much money you should have saved at every age.

In your 20s:
Aim to save 25% of your overall gross pay, Greene tells CNBC. "That 25% is the combination of 401(k) withholdings, matching funds from your employer and any cash savings that you have," she notes. "It can also include debt repayment.

"Just make sure your lifestyle expenses don't exceed 75% of your gross income."

By age 30:
Have the equivalent of your annual salary saved, Greene says. If you earn $50,000 a year, aim to have $50,000 in savings when you hit 30.

Again, this includes any retirement account contributions, matching funds from your company, cash savings, or money you have invested elsewhere, in index funds or robo-advisers.

By age 35: Have twice your annual salary saved.
By age 40: Have three times your annual salary saved.

By age 45: Have four times your annual salary saved.
By age 50: Have five times your annual salary saved.

By age 55: Have six times your annual salary saved.
By age 60: Have seven times your annual salary saved.

By age 65: Have eight times your annual salary saved.

Greene's timeline is similar to the one recommended by retirement-plan provider Fidelity Investments, which says a good rule of thumb is to have the equivalent of your salary saved by age 30 and to have 10 times your final salary in savings if you want to retire by age 67.

Kredit: www.msn.com money

Please start today, please.

How to bid E-lelong

How to bid property E-lelong? A system test to avoid collusion within the industry players.

I just hope they make good progress.

Kredit: theedge.com

Lots of cash does not mean anything

Cash rich is everyone dream, right?

Not for this company.....

It is a company within authority surveillance, yet thousands still bear the brunt. Kesian.

Lowest price is on 5 June 2017 at 2 sen, the line goes flat thereafter. Maybe gone later. 

KYY pissed off. 

It pays to know your credit status via CCRIS or CTOS

I RELUCTANTLY signed up for a life insurance policy through a credit card issued by a finance company after repeated phone calls from the telemarketer. The policy was supposed to be for one year and a monthly instalment of RM33 would be charged to the credit card which had served me well for six years.

A year later, I found that RM33 was still being charged to my card monthly. When I called to ask about this, I was informed that I must write a formal letter to request that the charge be stopped. I was astonished because a verbal agreement over the phone was enough when they signed me up but now that I wanted to cancel, I must write a formal letter.

When the finance company was taken over by a bank, I decided to terminate the card. I went to one of the bank’s branches to get this done and specifically pointed out the monthly charge. The card was officially terminated and the insurance charge was automatically cancelled; at least that was what I was told.

A month later, I received a card statement with the amount of RM33 still being charged. I called the bank and was told the account was indeed terminated and I was assured that the statement was generated automatically by their computer system which was not yet updated.

The next month, I received another statement, this time showing that I owed RM66 on the card. I called the bank again and it was reiterated that my credit card had been terminated. I was also told to ignore the statement and that it needed a few months for the computer system to be updated.

Fast forward to almost a year and I was applying for a loan. There were problems getting my loan approved and when I checked, I found out they were due to an unsettled card account.

I went to the same branch of the bank and found out I had a credit debt of RM271.36, thanks to the monthly charges for the insurance policy that had not been terminated plus a penalty for late payment.

The bank denied any accountability but advised me to apply for a waiver, a process that would take a few months and I might still have to pay up in the end. So, to clear my credit list for my loan application, I paid the amount in full!

Learn from my experience. Never say yes to any credit card promotion over the phone.
Be alert for your credit status and check the Central Credit Reference Information System (CCRIS) or CTOS at least once a year.

AIMIR MA’ROF
Kuching




Hint: its easy to check your credit status, just go to BNM branches or AKPK branches, show your IC and get your free report. So easy!

These insurance companies get to sign up and charge you so easy meh, just agree via the phone BUT demand a letter from you to terminate, so double standard! The best way to get equal is to terminate the account or credit card that feed the payment, so that two accounts will be affected at once. When you do this, both company will generally need to spend 10 times more on marketing to gain you as their customer again. Silently teach them a lesson since we as a unit of customer can't win fighting them.

Do you remember the last case you win over them?   If they value you, they should treat you well.

Cost of marketing a product is not cheap!

Automatic Fuel Pricing Mechanism

You can find plenty of debate on the web about the fuel pricing mechanism in Malaysia.

Some goes to the extent of accusation, nevertheless, the industry people know what is true n what is false. What they don't tell you is the human interference in the decision.

The number will be churn out as at decision date, was never wrong. This breakdown is correct. That Alpha is the unfair advantage that should be retrieve from the fuel distributors. Why? Go find out what is its basis.

Kredit: paultan.org   

There is one instance in our history, the spike is too much, that decision kill a character. I still remember that day. 78 sen per litre spike!

Kredit: malaysiakini.com

If current crude oil price around USD50/bbl translate to RON95 price of around RM2.10, do you think the price of RM2.70/litre is fair when the crude price hovers around USD150/bbl? Go calculate for your satisfaction. It is definitely, an ill advise at work at that time. 

Kredit: macrotrends.net

Merdeka???

Basic Rules of Thumb of a Growth Company

10 Basic Rules of Thumb of a Growth Company:

1.     CAGR of Revenue > 15%
2.     CAGR of Net Profits > 15%
3.     Net Profit Margin > 8 %
4.     CAGR of Operation Cash Flow > 15%
5.     Positive Free Cash Flow
6.     Cash Ratio > 0.5
7.     ROE > 15%
8.     Debt to Equity Ratio < 0.5
9.     Price Earning Growth Ratio < 0.5
10.     Price < Intrinsic Value

Buy n forget! Its a growth company ma....

Is your unit trust doing well?

Most unit trust funds underperform the market

Kroijer points out that most unit trust funds have under performed the market in the last decade. “Almost 90% of the equity mutual funds globally have underperformed the market in the past 10 years (net of fees), based on numerous studies and reports. While some fund managers were able to beat the market, they still underperformed after deducting the fees (which include the sales charge and annual management fee),” he says.

According to the S&P Dow Jones Indices’ semi-annual report published in September, the S&P Indices Versus Active (Spiva) scorecard shows that as at June, 87.5% of the actively managed equity funds in the US underperformed its benchmark in the past decade. The Spiva Europe Scoreboard, which measures the performance of actively managed European equity funds, says 96% of the European funds underperformed their benchmark over a 10-year period as at the end of last year. According to the scorecard, European actively managed emerging market equity funds also suffered the same fate.

“There is a widely held belief that active portfolio management can be most effective in less efficient markets, such as emerging market equities, as these markets can provide managers the opportunities to exploit perceived mispricing. However, this view is not substantiated by our research as active funds underperformed their benchmarks in all time horizons, with 96% of funds underperforming the 10-year period,” says the report.

The fees imposed on investors are the main reason these funds underperformed the market, says Kroijer. Throughout his career, he has seen many investors pay huge amounts of fees to fund managers only to see their funds underperform the markets.

He says this is especially true in the hedge fund industry. “It was very hard to distinguish between the hedge funds that created value and those that did not when the markets consistently went up during those years. It was only during the huge declines of 2008/09 that many hedge fund managers found out that they had only been taking a long position on the market without adding much value.

“Of course, some of them made a huge amount of money by providing a little more value-add [but that did not justify the fees]. No wonder there were a lot of angry investors.”

Kroijer says hedge funds usually charge investors a 2% annual management fee and 20% of the total net profit. While the charges of unit trust funds are much lower than hedge funds, it is still not good enough as 9 out of 10 funds underperform the market net of fees, he points out.

The global equities index fund will provide you with diversification, compared with a single country ETF. For instance, if you only buy into the Malaysian index and it goes down by 50%, you will take a hit in your portfolio. But the global equities index fund as a whole may be unaffected.

Currently, there aren’t any global equity ETFs on Bursa Malaysia. But local investors can access them via overseas brokerage accounts.

Investors could look at the db x-trackers MSCI World Index UCITS ETF, which is listed on the Singapore Exchange, or the Infinity Global Stock Index Fund, which feeds into the Vanguard Global Stock Index Fund. The latter tracks the MSCI World Free Index, which comprises a basket of 1,600 stocks.

Investors could also look into the Vanguard Total World Stock ETF and iShares MSCI World Equity ETF, which are listed on the New York Stock Exchange.

> Lars Kroijer, author of Money Mavericks: Confession of a Hedge Fund Manager and Investing Demystified: How to Invest without Speculation and Sleepless Nights.

See the dividends

Thanks to Lars Kroijer for doing the research and confirming my hunch. Its simple, if the fund manager can't beat the average performance of EPF (EPF also weeding them out on yearly basis) or PNB, just liquidate and move on. Performance is everything because you are in the business of growing your own assets, not their assets. Look at the Dec16 performance table below and get the message. It really painful when the so called qualified professional lose your money on your behalf. Lose the money yourself, at least you gain the experience!

1,2,3,5,10 yrs anualised performance

Hint: When the markets are badly down, look at their top holdings, if it is full of dividends paying company, hit the fund for a killing because market cannot be down all the time, it is a business as well here. Else who will pay for the managers salary! 

Be firm with telemarketers

THE Consumers’ Association of Penang would like to address the public on the issue of the telemarketing of insurance policies.

Based on the complaints we have received, we find that many consumers are caught in the trap of unknowingly purchasing insurance policies that are being promoted through telemarketing.

In light of these complaints, CAP took up the matter with Bank Negara Malaysia to say that we believe insurance companies should not be allowed to sell insurance policies through telemarketing because of the following reasons:

> Consumers are being pressured into agreeing to purchase insurance policies; advertisement

> Non-committal replies may be taken as a form of agreement; and

> Consumers do not receive their policies and therefore do not know that they are “covered”.

However, Bank Negara stated that the telemarketing of insurance policies is allowed and legal. Bank Negara also assured us through written correspondence that the telemarketing of insurance policies cannot be done on an “anything goes” basis. There are certain things that telemarketers and insurance companies must adhere to, including:

> A telemarketer while promoting the insurance policy must provide key information such as the product name, features, underwriting insurer, benefits and coverage, method of premium payment and consequences of non-payment;

> The telemarketer cannot assume that the consumer wants to purchase the product being sold. They must get the consumers’ express agreement before they can consider an insurance policy sold;

> The insurance company must send the consumer a copy of the Product Disclosure Sheet (PDS) together with the policy contract for insurance products (insurance policy); and

> There is a 15-day “free look” period after the delivery of the policy to return the policy to the insurance company (reject the policy) and get a refund on the premium that has already been paid. (Alert the insurance company if your insurance policy does not arrive within the time stipulated by the telemarketer.)

Finally, we advise consumers to speak clearly during a conversation with a telemarketer. Since no written contract is needed for the sale of an insurance policy over the phone, the telemarketing conversation itself becomes the legally binding contract between you and the insurance company.

If a dispute arises between the two parties, the telemarketing conversation is what will be referred to.

If you do not want to purchase the insurance policy then say “No”. Be assertive.

S.M. MOHAMED IDRIS
President
Consumers Association of Penang


We had a share of the story as well. Pity the new generation YZ, they are sure will get caught by this "bad" marketers which ultimately wanted to push their product regardless of suitability and need.
Hint: A good product need no sales people, user will hunt them.

Are you a high networth individual?

Based on Securities Commission Malaysia's guidelines, a high networth individual is defined as:

An individual whose total net personal assets, or total net joint assets with his or her spouse, exceeds RM3 million or its equivalent in foreign currencies, excluding the value of the individual's primary residence.

An individual who has a gross annual income exceeding RM300,000 or its equivalent in foreign currencies per annum in the preceding 12 months.

An individual who, jointly with his or her spouse, has a gross annual income of RM400,000 or its equivalent in foreign currencies per annum in the preceding 12 months.

Source: www.sc.com.my

Electronic money

The future is here. As the day goes by, more n more countries adopting cashless transaction. Some are creating the scenario to push ahead regardless of level of acceptance. Man on the street is clueless of what is happening!

This is a very good introduction on crypto currency by Palwasha Saaim which first appeared in Profit Confidential.com. There are plenty of them, just like the paper currency, but Bitcoin is currently the front runner of the electronic currency.

Why Bitcoin?

Satoshi Nakamoto faced a dilemma in 2016. If he wanted to transact money, he roughly had two options. First, he could buy and sell using cash, which could exchange hands without him divulging any information about himself. But cash had a downside of safekeeping. Large sums were difficult to carry around and ran the risk of getting stolen.

The other options encompassed checks and electronic transactions via credit cards, which were safer to carry but compromised personal information. Nakamoto didn’t like the government or banks surveilling his life.

Then, things got more complicated as he added foreign currency transactions to the mix. If he wanted to send money abroad, he had to wait two to four business days before the money was processed.

He wanted a solution to all this, so he created a substitute. He named it Bitcoin—an alternative currency that hit multiple birds with one stone. It was safe to keep, couldn’t be stolen, didn’t require you to divulge personal information, wasn’t controlled by a central bank, and could conduct foreign transactions spontaneously.


What Is Bitcoin?

Two words; electronic money!

Satoshi Nakamoto—the enigmatic founder of Bitcoin—wrote a computer code that generated complex mathematical equations. These mathematical equations, when solved, give the solver the rights to pass on ownership of a virtual currency—Bitcoin.

Now, Nakamoto was the first person to solve some equations and get hold of a few bitcoins. He then found enough people who believed in his idea to start transacting in bitcoins.

All these bitcoin transactions get logged onto a public ledger—the blockchain—where anyone can view and verify them (you’ll read more on this later).

Confused? We’re just warming up with bitcoin basics so stay with me and all the pieces will soon fall into place.

For now, just know that the concept of this digital currency is somewhat similar to using a credit card, where no physical money actually changes hands, but only the rights are passed on and the transactions are digitally recorded.

But then you may ask how this cryptocurrency managed to attain the status of currency when no central bank backs it. It’s simple.

Just take a look at the dollar bill in your wallet—a piece of paper. It has value only because we “believe” it is valuable, even though it’s no longer pegged to anything of intrinsic value.

Likewise, Bitcoin has attained digital currency status because enough people believe in it. You’ll be surprised to know that many companies in the U.S. now accept Bitcoin as a mode of payment. To name a few, Expedia, Dish, Newegg, and Overstock all accept Bitcoin payments. And that’s not all.

The Bitcoin price is skyrocketing this month for a reason. Big retailers around the world are jumping on the bandwagon. Two of Japan’s biggest retailers have announced this week that they’ll now be accepting bitcoins for payments.

In short; this digital currency is headed towards mass adoption.


So, Who Creates Bitcoin?

Nobody! That’s the whole idea of Bitcoin. It is decentralized—which means no central authority or individual controls it. That’s the fundamental concept in bitcoin basics that you need to wrap your head around.

Satoshi Nakamoto programmed the computer code in such a way that only a certain number of bitcoins get unlocked every two years and will do so for the next 150 years. Yes, 2140 is the cut-off year. By then, a total of 21 million bitcoins will be in circulation. That’s it! No more bitcoins after that.

You see the uncanny resemblance with gold here? We know that the supply of gold on earth is limited. It’s out there buried somewhere and we have to mine it to get hold of it. The more we dig out, the more we put in circulation, yet its total amount on the planet remains finite.

But why that specific number and date? Because, probably, by then we’ll have the final solution to all the mathematical equations underlying Nakamoto’s code.


What Is Bitcoin Mining?

To put it simply; mining means solving Nakamoto’s mathematical equations.

You know by now that only a certain sum of the 21 million bitcoins becomes available every two years. But the bitcoins are locked in computer code, so to say. To unlock them, someone has to do the complex math.

The equations put out by Nakamoto’s code are like puzzles. Nakamoto was the first one to solve some and get access to the first bitcoins. The equations are open to all computer geeks out there. Anyone can solve them to “mine” or unlock the bitcoins.

But then why don’t we sit down and solve the equations all at once? Here’s the catch. When you solve them, you in turn create some more puzzles for others to solve. And the process will go until 2140.


I’m No Computer Geek, Do I Have to Mine Bitcoins?

No, you don’t! Mining is for Bitcoin enthusiasts or for those looking to make money out of it by mining and selling their rewards. If you want to get hold of bitcoins, you can do one of the following;

    Buy bitcoins on an exchange
    Sell a product or service to a bitcoiner and accept a payment back in bitcoins
    Ask a bitcoiner to send or lend you some bitcoins (this could be challenging, unless you have a friend)

Okay, But How Does Bitcoin Work?

It’s easy! All you need is a smartphone or a computer with Internet access and you’re set.

The first thing you need to do is download a Bitcoin wallet. That’s where you’ll be keeping all your bitcoins. You can find some of the popular e-wallet apps on the Bitcoin website: (Source: “Choose your Bitcoin wallet,” Bitcoin, last accessed April 13, 2017.)

Once you have the wallet, the next step is to get your public key or address. This is your identification. The app lets you send a request for the address. You’ll receive back a lengthy alphanumeric code. This is the address you give to other bitcoiners when sending or receiving bitcoins.

Your wallet also creates a private key. This is your password to get into your wallet and use your bitcoins. If you lose your password, you lose your coins. So this key needs to be written down and kept away in a safe place.

Now, people identify you with your public key, but the computer code verifies your transactions with your private key. And since only you and the computer code know your private key, it brings a sense of anonymity to bitcoin—exactly what Nakamoto needed to lay off surveilling agencies and data-stealing businesses.

Finally, the computer code posts all Bitcoin transactions to an openly distributed ledger that anybody can access. Remember the “blockchain” that I mentioned in the beginning? This ledger lists all transactions from the beginning of time and will do so till the end of times. The transactions can be identified with public keys of bitcoiners. This way, no individual controls the currency, and yet everyone collectively keeps a check on it.

There! We’ve covered most of bitcoin basics by now. Stay put!


Where Can I Buy Bitcoin?

If you have nobody to send or lend you your first bitcoins, you can go buy them. Where? On a Bitcoin exchange. That’s where bitcoins are traded for real currency.

You can create an account on a Bitcoin exchange and link it up with your bank. Once the bitcoins you’ve bought get deposited into your account with the exchange, you can then transfer them to your bitcoin wallet.

The price of a bitcoin is set by market forces of demand and supply, and is currently hovering over $1200 for one bitcoin. The unit of bitcoin is expressed as BTC.

Now, one bitcoin or BTC can be divided into 100 million small units and the smallest unit (1/100,000,000) is called satoshi. So you can transact for any amount in bitcoins for as little as one satoshi.


Is Bitcoin a Legal Currency?

Yes, absolutely! At least in the U.S. and most of the other countries, it is.

In fact, Bangladesh, Bolivia, and Ecuador are the only countries in the world where Bitcoin is outrightly banned All other countries are either mum on its use or have explicitly allowed it.

Countries like the U.S., the U.K., Japan, Germany, Canada, Finland, and Estonia officially accept it as a legal currency, regulate it, and some even tax its use, just like ordinary fiat currency.
Should I Invest in Bitcoin?

So I believe Adam finally understands the bitcoin basics and so do you. Now comes the final question; should one invest in this digital currency?

It depends on your risk appetite.

If you look at its penetration into the mainstream, you can easily tell that the currency is still in its infancy. But if you look at its adoption rate, the growth is vivid.

From a market valuation of a few cents to a billion dollars in just three years—that kind of growth is unprecedented in history. Neither Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL), nor Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ:GOOGL), nor Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) have matched up to that growth.


But here’s a final word of caution. Bitcoin is currently trading close to its all-time highs. At such giddying heights, I like to take a step back from any investment. So weigh all the options before taking a leap of faith on a whim.

Chicken or egg come first?

A good channel to learn from