W.E.F 1st August 2009: Dearer Public Transport

Public transport fares will go up by 30% from 1st August 2009!

Taxi Rates
Current
RM2 for first 1km/2 minutes
RM0.10 for every subsequent 150m/45 seconds

New
RM3 for first 1km/3 minutes
RM0.10 for every subsequent 115m/21 seconds.

Express Bus Fares
Current
6.5 sen/km

New
8.5 sen/km

Stage Bus Fares in Kuala Lumpur
Increase by 25 to 75 sen according to zones

School Bus Fares
Current
RM21.10 for the first kilometre
RM1.55 for every subsequent kilometre

New
RM27.43 for the first kilometre
RM2.02 for every subsequent kilometre

http://www.sun2surf.com/article.cfm?id=35869

Savings Return turned negative? Unit Trust is your answer!

Let's see this simple equation:

Real Interest Rate = Rate-(tax+rate of inflation)

Based on the article published on The Star ( the link to the article here)

Based on the January 2009 Consumer Price Index of 3.9%, savings which offer the best rate (Fixed Deposit offers the rate of 2.50%) are already in the red!!! Which means, even if you save all your money safely in the bank, your money is losing value every moment. This is the POWER OF INFLATION!

So why are you keeping your money there? Oh ya.. I know, you will said it's safe, no risk..ya, sure! Of course no risk, cause it's a CERTAINTY that you will be losing the value of your money!

Sure enough, when Fixed Deposits offer interest rates of more than 10%, you will go for FD and deemed unit trust a risk..but now?

FD always offer certainty, and now it's certain to LOSE, and unit trust is the opportunity (instead of risk) to earn REAL INTEREST.

Inflation in April 2009

Inflation for April 2009, rises 3% compared to April 2009, though it had fallen compared to March's 3.5%. And the items that rise the most: Food and Non-alcoholic drink, which increased by 7.5%, while non-food increased by 0.9%.

So, we can see that even financial crisis can't stop inflation! As long as the demand is there, prices will keep on rising, and the value of your savings in Fixed Income will continue to shrink!

http://www.btimes.com.my/Current_News/BTIMES/articles/20090520171101/Article/index_html

Why you shouldn't put your money in Fixed Deposit now!!!

The obvious reason why you shouldn't put your money in the Fixed Deposit now!


1) Damansara Heights Bungalow1960's: RM40,000
Today: RM3,000,000
Compounded Annual Rate: 11.71%

2) Popular Vehicle
1960's: 1.2 litre Datsun 1200
Cost: RM7,000

Today: 1.3 litre Perodua Myvi
Cost: RM43,000

Compounded Annual Rate: 4.76%

3) A Cup of Coffee
1960's: RM0.15
Today: RM1.20 to RM1.50
Compounded Annual Rate: 4.71%

4) Arrow's T-Shirt
1960's: RM10.00
Today: RM90.00
Compounded Annual Rate: 5.80%

5) Civil Servant's Salary
1960's: RM100 to RM150
Today: RM2,000
Compounded Annual Rate: 6.87%

I haven't check out what is the lastest FD rate now, but surely it's lower than the 3.5% before the Bank Negara cut the rate. And all these examples have a higher annual compounded rate of 3.5%.

Source:
http://biz.thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2009/4/18/business/3695447&sec=business

Inflation never stop!

Think you can escape from inflation during the economic crisis? NO is the answer
Below are the headline from The Star

"February inflation rate rises


MALAYSIA’S inflation rate in February increased to 3.7% from a year earlier.

When compared with the previous month, it increased by 0.2%."

Full article here

Inflation

With the recent hike of petrol prices in the country, one of the inevitable result from it is: Inflation.

With a hike of 41% in petrol prices, no doubt the inflation rate in the country will also rise. Economist are predicting inflation rate of the country will rise to 5%. Not too bad considering there are also significant increase in rice prices. But what most of us didn't noticed is that, everyone's inflation rate is different. This 5% is not applied to every Malaysian in the country. This 5% is the average of the whole country.

That means, if you are living in the capital or big city, your inflation will definitely be more than 5%. Why? Actually you can actually measure your own inflation by jotting down your expenses for this year, and compare the amount with your expenses next year. A month by month comparison will be unnecessary as there will not be much of a difference between this month and next month. I now give an example on how to calculate.

Let's say you drink a cup of coffee everyday. The price now is RM1.00. For 365 days, you will spend RM365 / year. After this petrol hike, assuming the price increases RM0.20, so now the price for one cup is RM1.20. For 365 days, the cost is RM438, an increase of RM73. This increase is 20%, therefore your inflation is 20%, way above the national value of 5%.

This is just a single item example. If you add up your every expenses, more often that the percentage will be even higher, as normally prices of products keep going up!