4 Ringgit Myths You Need To Know

Myth 1 - You have to be rich to start investing

In the mind of many, one has to be rich to start investing. Many thought that to start investing, one would need to have a sizable amount of Ringgit. But the fact that with new technology, investing has become easier and the minimum amount is lower. Robo-Advisors such as MyTheo, Stashaway, and Wahed Invest make it very easy to start investing with just RM100.

*Bonus: If you invest RM100 in Wahed Invest using my referral code (limwei1), both you and I will get RM40 bonus each after maintaining the RM100 for 1 month. 

How to Buy a Car Without a Loan

Everyone believes that it is impossible to buy a new car without a loan but that does not mean that it is really impossible. What actually requires is patience, hard works, and the right method.

Why should we buy a car without a loan is because the interest that we have paid by the end of the loan period will actually amount to almost a second car by itself? Also, a car is the type of assets that would depreciate in value over time. So, why pay even more for something that is depreciating in value. 

Firstly, we must work on how much can we afford to pay for the monthly installment. Can you pay RM 500 per month or RM 1000? If you can afford to pay this amount for a monthly installment, you should pay it to yourself first before buying that car.

Instead of buying that dream car of yours straight away, look for a decent second-hand car (as a temporary car) with an affordable value. A second hand Perodua Kancil will cost about RM 4000 (at the time of writing) and the good thing about the car is how fuel-efficient it is. So, if you can pay yourself RM 500 per month first, you can buy it on cash after 8 months of paying yourself.

Living below your means

One of the first pieces of advice for anyone who wants to start building wealth is to live below your means. But what does it means to live below your means?

What is "Living below your means"?

To make it simple, "living below your means" is you must not spend more money than you earn. So, if you spend less or equal to the amount of money you make each month from your job and other sources of income, you’re below your means.

Living below your means does not mean you can’t spend money on the things you love in order to enjoy your life. Instead, if you want to create a more stable financial future while still enjoying that occasional fancy dinner, you can make some conscious financial decisions, such as saving extra money, creating a budget, and cutting back on unnecessary expenses.

How to live below your means?

It is actually not that hard to live below your means. The most important point here is to know how to prioritize all the things in our lives. The first step that I would recommend is to list down all your needs and wants. Those monthly bills, such as electricity and water bills, groceries, mortgage, etc are considered needs. The rest of your expenses should be more of the wants, especially eating outs, movies, Netflix, that cup of Starbucks. These wants are the ones that you would really need to think through if you really want it. A reminder, I am not asking you cut all of them off. Just rethink if you really want it in your life.