If you were planning to be a financial service agent, which would you consider being?

• A unit trust agent
• An insurance agent
• A full-fledged financial planner managing investments to estate planning, etc
• Etc?

And which financial institution would be a company of your choice?

• Public Mutual
• CIMB Principal
• Prudential
• AIA
• Allianz
• Great Eastern
• ING
• Etc?

I’m just curious as to how people decide which type of financial agent they want to be and why.

If you have never considered being one, would you think about this option now? What are your perceptions of such agents anyway?

To read more personal finance and money related articles, visit Penny Sense.

Which kind of financial service agent would you be?

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I have always wondered how many of us actually engage the service of a financial planner to help us achieve our financial goals. Do you have one?

I’ve never had one although there was an insurance agent who did offer to extend his services as a financial planner instead of just being an insurance agent. But I declined.

The reason I declined the help of a financial planner’s service at that point in time was because I really had no idea what kind of financial objectives or results I wanted. Specific results, I mean.

I only know that I want to retire comfortably, have enough money to send my kiddo off to some good tertiary education, etc. But nothing in specific monetary terms. So I thought it’d be a waste of time to get a financial planner to look into my very vague plans.

Also, I know exactly what I was going to be told upon a financial health check, that I need a lot more savings as buffer and that I am not insuring enough.

But then again, many may tell me that since I do not know what I want and have so many fundamentals lacking, this is where the financial planner will come in useful.

Are financial planners really a big help? What do you think? If you have one, how has your financial planner help you so far in maintaining and growing your wealth?

Update: I just realised that The Novice wrote a post about how to choose the right financial adviser today. Good read!

To read more personal finance and money related articles, visit Penny Sense.

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Everyone is asking what is a good investment to go into in today’s world of uncertainties. With the launch of the recent investment vehicles like the Sukuk Simpanan Rakyat and Amanah Saham Malaysia (ASM) which promise 5% annual returns, many Malaysians have rushed in to buy the units. They are indeed good investments in times when fixed deposits stand at 2% per annum, and at best 3% per annum on some promotional rates.

So if you have missed out on buying the Sukuk Simpanan Rakyat and Amanah Saham Malaysia units, what then do you plan to invest in so that you do not keep your cash idle?

I read the latest issue of Fundsupermart which has an interesting article that suggests 4 ways to invest to earn a steady stream of passive income. I find the 4 asset classes suggested to carry a good mix of risk appetite as a way to divest an investment portfolio. If you are more risk averse, you may want to choose what you regard as safer investment vehicles but if you are gamed for a little more risk, then go for it wisely.

Here are the four suggested asset classes put forth by the article in Fundsupermart which are relatively low risk in nature which will give you some reasonable returns and dividend over time.

1. Money market funds
2. Bond funds
3. REITs
4. High yield dividend stocks

Money market and bond funds are generally low risk investments as they place money in relatively safe debt instruments like commercial papers, treasury bills, fixed deposits, government and corporate bonds, etc. Returns on these investments won’t be very high as can be expected, since lower risk assets tend to offer lower returns. But when you average out the returns of all the instruments put together, you could potentially see better returns than the 2% fixed deposit rate.

REITs and equities are a little more volatile and hence more risky. But the idea is not to speculate on them to make your profit, but rather to reap steady payouts of good dividend and also on the growth of the stocks over the long term. The returns on them should be higher than the less aggressive funds above.

I think the suggested asset classes are quite sound. For someone like me who have no idea what to invest in right now, this seems like a good mix of a portfolio to get into. A note of caution for those who subscribe to the suggestions above, do exercise some caution when picking the funds or stocks to go into. Don’t just jump into the first money market fund of REITs you come across. Do a little bit of homework into each asset class to determine the rate of return and risk trade off that you are comfortable with.

What are you thoughts on the suggested asset classes above? Do you have more suggestions on what to invest in now?

To read more personal finance and money related articles, visit Penny Sense.

4 ways to invest for a steady stream of passive income

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Married couples often have arguments when the subject of money is brought up. Especially now, when we are at the beginning of a global financial crisis, couples may find themselves at each other’s throats more often. Each of us have different ways of managing (or mismanaging!) our finances, and it’s inevitable that couples have lots of money fights. But the good news is that many will get through this by learning more about each other’s money management styles as well as spending and saving habits.

The secret to managing your finances well as a couple is really through communication and a shared commitment to keep to what has been agreed. This applies mostly to saving together for some future plan, whether it’s for a bigger home or to send their kids to universities.

I’m sure couples also talk about how to make more money, but seeing that most of us are employed, there really isn’t much we can control where making more money out of the employers is concerned. This is where couples may decide to jointly invest or start up a business together to build up on passive income.

For those who are highly disciplined, you can follow some suggested methods from an article I read called The Six Key Steps to Healthy Finances in Your Relationship. It’s not exactly what you don’t already know, but it does give some rather good tips on how you can manage your money together.

To read more personal finance and money related articles, visit Penny Sense.

Managing your finances as a couple

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What we were advised if signing up for the plan is that we should go for the Elite category. Reason being as we move up along the age category, the premiums get more expensive. If you are already in the Elite group, you can choose to downgrade to the next level which costs less. This is only if you choose to do so. If you are in Classic or Supreme, when you upgrade, you are subjected to some health checks and approval and you are not guaranteed to be able to upgrade to a higher coverage when you need it. It made sense to me.

Earlier in the post I mentioned that this product is designed for people in the workforce who are assumed to be covered by company’s policies. This is because the plan does not pay for the first RM20,000 of your medical bill incurred. It is assumed that the average coverage of a company is at around RM20,000. Amounts in excess of that shall be claimed under this plan. Makes good sense to you?

I calculated how much my premium would cost if I started now. The Classic would cost me RM18.75 a month, Supreme costs RM24.16 and Elite would cost me RM31.25. I think I don’t mind paying the RM30 odd a month and get maximum coverage.

What about you? Do you find this a good deal? If you are interested to find out more, just contact any ING Life Agent.

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Extremely affordable medical plan

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