jnr virtual

ASB 2011 Dividend and Bonus

2011-12-20T07:07:00.002+08:00

for 2011, ASB returns its investors with the following:

7.65% Dividend, 1.15% Bonus.

This is slightly higher dividend rate compared to year 2010 (7.5%).

lagi kes penipuan / scam investment emas!

2011-10-13T22:09:00.000+08:00

received this email from my unit trust consultant recently. it is about bank negara (bnm) reply on companies that are doing deposit taking scheme using gold investment as cover. felt the need to share this. so here goes..

p/s: mentang-mentanglah orang semakin ramai berminat untuk melabur dalam emas, ada saja geng-geng yang mengambil peluang yang terhidang. baca dan nilai sendiri.

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: BNM Telelink <bnmtelelink@bnm.gov.my>
Date: 2011/10/12
Subject: RE: Pertanyaan berkenaan Genneva Sdn Bhd/ij
To: xxxxxxx

Tuan,

Kami merujuk kepada e-mel tuan bertarikh 10 Oktober 2011.

Kami mengambil maklum berhubung isu yang dibangkitkan oleh tuan mengenai urus niaga emas dan operasi syarikat Genneva Malaysia Sdn Bhd (Genneva) dan syarikat-syarikat lain yang menjalankan urus niaga yang sama.

Kami ingin memaklumkan bahawa urus niaga emas atau perak bukanlah di bawah pengawalseliaan Bank Negara Malaysia (Bank). Sehubungan dengan itu, Bank tidak mengeluarkan sebarang kelulusan atau lesen kepada syarikat-syarikat yang menjalankan aktiviti urus niaga emas atau perak.

Walau bagaimanapun, sekiranya urus niaga emas tersebut jelas menawarkan peluang pelaburan dengan mengutip wang orang ramai dan kutipan atau pelaburan tersebut diberi pulangan mengikut jangkamasa tertentu yang mana pelaburan asal juga boleh diambil semula, ianya mungkin menyalahi seksyen 25(1) Akta Bank Dan Institusi Kewangan (ABIK) 1989.

Kami telah menjalankan beberapa penyiasatan ke atas syarikat yang disyaki terlibat dalam menjalankan pengambilan deposit wang tanpa lesen yang berlandaskan produk urus niaga emas seperti Genneva Sdn Bhd, Bestino Group Sdn Bhd dan Gold Label Sdn Bhd yang berkemungkinan menyalahi Seksyen 25(1), ABIK.

Untuk pengetahuan tuan, kami juga sentiasa memantau aktiviti-aktiviti yang berkaitan dan tidak teragak-agak untuk menjalankan penyiasatan sekiranya sesebuah syarikat itu disyaki terlibat dalam pengambilan deposit tanpa lesen dengan berselindung di sebalik urus niaga emas untuk mengaburi aktiviti syarikat tersebut.

Berhubung dengan kenyataan Genneva bahawa:

"Syarikat telah mematuhi kesemua garispanduan dan telah mendapat kelulusan Bank di bawah Seksyen 21(1), ABIK. Kami juga adalah sebuah syarikat yang diklasifikasi di bawah Jadual Satu, Akta Pencegahan Pengubahan Wang Haram dan Pencegahan Pembiayaan Keganasan 2001 sebagai "institusi pelapor".

Untuk pengetahuan tuan, di bawah Seksyen 21(1), ABIK. institusi berjadual perlu memberi notis pemberitahuan kepada Bank berhubung aktiviti perniagaannya. Walau bagaimanapun, Bank tidak mengawalselia aktiviti-aktiviti syarikat tersebut. Untuk makluman juga, Genneva telah mengemukakan kepada Bank permohonan pertukaran nama syarikat memandangkan sebelum ini notis pemberitahuan adalah atas nama syarikat lain yang mana syarikat berkenaan telah diambil alih oleh Genneva. Berdasarkan kepada notis pemberitahuan yang telah dikemukakan, aktiviti yang dinyatakan adalah untuk menjalankan perniagaan pemajakan dan pemfaktoran. Berhubung urus niaga emas, Genneva tidak perlu mendapat kelulusan Bank kerana perniagaan tersebut bukanlah di bawah pengawalseliaan Bank seperti yang dinyatakan sebelum ini.

Orang ramai adalah dingatkan agar lebih berhati-hati dan meneliti risiko-risiko terbabit dalam pelaburan emas sebelum menyertai mana-mana skim pelaburan yang menjanjikan pulangan yang tinggi dalam jangka masa yang singkat.

Setiap pelabur diingatkan supaya memeriksa latar belakang sesebuah syarikat dengah pihak berkuasa dalam memastikan syarikat tersebut mematuhi undang-undang. Sebagai panduan, orang ramai dinasihati supaya merujuk kepada Suruhanjaya Syarikat Malaysia (SSM) untuk mendapatkan kepastian aktiviti -aktiviti perniagaan yang didaftarkan. Pelabur-pelabur juga mungkin mahu mendapatkan maklumat kewangan syarikat termasuklah keupayaan syarikat memberi pulangan atas pelaburan yang dibuat. Maklumat-maklumat kewangan dan latarbelakang syarikat boleh diperolehi melalui dokumen-dokumen berikut:

(i) Laporan Tahunan Berodit

(ii) Memorandum dan Artikel Pertubuhan

(iii) Borang 49 - Senarai pengarah syarikat

Sebagai pelabur emas, tuan adalah juga dinasihatkan untuk memastikan isu-isu penting seperti:

(i) Sumber emas itu tersebut

(ii) Badan yang mengeluarkan sijil ketulenan emas tersebut

(iii) Memastikan keaslian sijil tersebut dengan menghubungi pihak yang mengeluarkan sijil tersebut

(iv) Mengesahkan ketulenan emas daripada kedai emas

(v) Mempersoalkan harga emas dijual pada harga premium

(vi) Sebarang pulangan yang dijanjikan kepada pelabur

(vii) Kaedah syarikat mendapatkan keuntungan daripada urus niaga emas tersebut

Pelabur mungkin mahu menghubungi pihak Kementerian Perdagangan Dalam Negeri, Koperasi dan Kepenggunaan (KPDNKK) sekiranya pelabur meragui akan ketulenan atau kualiti emas yang dibeli.

Terima kasih.

Kami amat menghargai sekiranya tuan dapat meluangkan masa untuk melengkapkan satu kaji selidik untuk membantu kami menilai dan memperbaiki kualiti perkhidmatan kami. Sila rujuk borang kaji selidik yang dilampirkan.

Bersama-sama ini turut dilampirkan panduan kepada pengguna berkaitan isu-isu kewangan untuk makluman.

Untuk mengetahui lebih lanjut tentang amaran penipuan kewangan, sila layari
http://www.bnm.gov.my/index.php?ch=216&pg=701&ac=98 dan http://www.bnm.gov.my/microsites/fraudalert/index.htm

Untuk mengetahui lebih lanjut tentang perbankan, insurans & takaful, sila layari

http://www.bankinginfo.com.my & http://www.insuranceinfo.com.my

Terima kasih.

Elizabeth

BNMTELELINK
Bank Negara Malaysia
No Tel : 1-300-88-5465
No Faks : 03-21741515
Emel: bnmtelelink@bnm.gov.my

wordless: zurich trip

2011-10-12T15:00:00.000+08:00

wordless: subsidi petrol ron95 untuk september 2011

2011-09-29T01:57:00.000+08:00

perlaburan dinar iraq: betul ke tidak ni? apa kata bank negara.

2011-09-26T17:30:00.000+08:00

mr saddam on old dinar iraq notes (wikipedia)

baru-baru ni riuh pulak pasal pelaburan dinar iraq. dulu dah panas, lepas tu sejuk, sekarang kembali hangat. bila baca blog-blog dan forum-forum kat alam maya ni memang teruja la jugak. dengar cerita kawan-kawan pun ramai dah beli dinar iraq ni. mana taknya pulangan berkali-kali ganda tu. terbaik dari ladang. kena molek boleh guna duit untung tu buat beli team epl satu.

tapi geng yang kata benda ni scam pun ada juga. diorang pun ada sebab-musabab dan hujah yang menolak pelaburan dinar iraq ni... jadi siapa yang betul?

aku pun saja gatal tangan gi email bank negara pasal dinar iraq. ni reply yang diterima:

====================================

Encik xxxxx,

Kami merujuk kepada e-mel tuan bertarikh 21 September 2011 mengenai perkara di atas.

Kami ingin berkongsi maklumat dengan tuan bahawa di bawah Akta Kawalan Pertukaran Wang 1953, adalah menjadi satu kesalahan untuk seseorang individu di Malaysia membeli atau menjual mata wang asing atau melakukan apa-apa tindakan yang melibatkan, berhubung dengan, atau persediaan untuk, membeli atau menjual mata wang asing dengan mana-mana orang, selain daripada peniaga berdaftar. Di bawah Akta ini juga, adalah satu kesalahan untuk seseorang itu membantu atau bersubahat dengan orang lain untuk membeli atau menjual mata wang asing dengan mana-mana orang, kecuali orang tersebut ialah peniaga yang dibenarkan.

Untuk makluman tuan, Bank Negara Malaysia tidak menyenaraikan Dinar Iraq sebagai salah satu mata wang pertukaran asing. Maklumat lanjut boleh diperoleh melalui laman sesawang : http://www.bnm.gov.my/ . Orang ramai adalah dinasihatkan untuk berurusan secara terus dengan bank-bank tempatan di bawah penyeliaan Bank Negara Malaysia bagi mendapatkan maklumat berkaitan dengan mata wang tersebut bagi mengelak daripada penipuan oleh pihak-pihak yang tidak bertanggungjawab.

Harap maklum.

Bersama-sama ini turut dilampirkan panduan kepada pengguna berkaitan isu-isu kewangan untuk makluman.

Untuk mengetahui lebih lanjut tentang amaran penipuan kewangan, sila layari
http://www.bnm.gov.my/index.php?ch=216&pg=701&ac=98 dan http://www.bnm.gov.my/microsites/fraudalert/index.htm

Untuk mengetahui lebih lanjut tentang perbankan, insurans & takaful, sila layari

http://www.bankinginfo.com.my & http://www.insuranceinfo.com.my

-yyyyyyy-

BNMTELELINK

Bank Negara Malaysia
No Tel : 1-300-88-5465
No Faks : 03-21741515
E-mel: bnmtelelink@bnm.gov.my
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

DISCLAIMER: Any e-mail messages from Bank Negara Malaysia (Bank) are sent in good faith, but shall not be binding nor construed as constituting any obligation on the part of the Bank.

CONFIDENTIALITY NOTICE: This e-mail contains confidential information, which is intended only for the use of the recipient(s) named above. If you have received this communication in error, please notify the sender immediately via e-mail and return the entire message. Thank you for your assistance.

=====================================

haaa, tu dia reply dari bank negara. general laa pulak ayat dia. takde laa pulak specificly cakap benda ni scam ke apa. maybe ayat aku tanya tak cukup clear kot.

p/s: nama penerima dan penghantar dah delete tu. rahsia.

so boleh la decide nak masuk ke tak pelaburan dinar iraq ni. itu keputusan masing-masing. kalau jadi benda ni, maka ramailah jutawan baru kat malaysia ni, yang dok kutuk selama ni pun meleleh laa air liur. kalau tak jadi pulak, yang dok kutuk akan cakap 'i told you so', yang masuk pelaburan ni burnt laa duit yang dah guna buat beli dinar iraq ni.

aku masuk ke idak? jeng jeng jeng...

suriamas homestay: prepare rumah untuk tetamu baru!!

2011-09-25T20:23:00.000+08:00

hari ni lepas meeting kerja kat kl, terus pecut pegi sunway untuk kemas and prepare apartment suriamas tu. ada guest nak masuk awal bulan depan.

part ni yang susah dan mencabar sikit jadi tokey homestay. bukan senang mau senang woo. lainlah kalau dapat join mlm scheme awal2 and be near the top level of the pyramid.

bila guest dah check out, antara kerja-kerja yang kena buat untuk prepare the apartment for next guest:

sapu sampah, vacuum rumah, lap debu-debu dan mop lantai.
basuh tandas.
cuci pinggan mangkuk, kemas dapur.
basuh cadar, sarung bantal, tuala, etc. kalau malas comforter yang tebal tu boleh hantar dobi je.
top up makanan macam cereal, coffee and sugar, jus, etc.
refill utilities macam sabun mandi, shampoo, sabun basuh baju, minyak masak, etc.
repair / touch up any minor damages.

perggh letih memang letih. tapi bila itu duit sudah masuk, terus hilang rasa letih!!!

hopefully our new guest will have a great time at the apartment. amin!

KLCI merudum. Time to buy???

2011-09-22T23:25:00.000+08:00

today KLCI reached its lowest point within one year period. Market closed at 1,387.81 points. Most of the stocks that I have been following harganya sudah drop. drop dead gorgeous.

adakah ini waktu sesuai untuk memasuki bursa saham dan membeli saham-saham ini?

jeng jeng jeng...

Nota tiada kaitan dengan post: AGTZWS544K9Q

wordless: we love eating out!!!

2011-09-21T15:00:00.000+08:00

senarai fatwa personal financial menarik di e-fatwa website

2011-09-20T22:41:00.000+08:00

semalam layan e-fatwa website. ada fatwa yang diwartakan, ada yang tak diwartakan. ada fatwa yang dikeluarkan oleh negeri, dan ada yang dibincangkan di peringkat nasional.

ini antara fatwa-fatwa yang menarik berkenaan dengan personal money untuk kita di malaysia. boleh fahamkan dengan lebih detail lagi di website e-fatwa.

KWSP / EPF = Harus
ASB = Harus.
Sijil Simpanan Premium (SSP) = Harus
Forex = Harus (untuk memenuhi hajat semasa sahaja)
Pelaburan Menjamin Pulangan Tetap = Haram
Jual Beli Saham = Halal untuk kaunter Halal
Join Peraduan SMS = Haram
Jual Beli Emas secara hutang = Harus
Jual barang kemas secara tertangguh = Sah
MLM = Harus untuk MLM yang ada kelulusan kerajaan
Pinjam duit naik haji = Harus
Kad Kredit Konvensional = Harus kalau dapat elak interest dan denda

banyak lagi fatwa-fatwa lain yang merangkumi kehidupan seharian kita seperti merokok, botox, sembelihan, alat bantuan seks, ajaran2 sesat, esq, hukum tanah, dan macam-macam lagi. memang baguslah website e-fatwa ni buat compilation semua fatwa. senang nak cari dan baca.

sekian.

teknik overlap emas pajak ar-rahnu dapat duit free!!!

2011-09-16T18:03:00.001+08:00

ni cerita satu teknik manipulasi emas yang semakin popular. dapat duit free, sapa tak nak, ye tak? kena pulak dengan mentaliti orang kita yang memang jenis mudah percaya bila orang cerita pasal cepat kaya ni.

tapi betul ke teknik overlap emas ar-rahnu ni? ke tipu punya? ada kos-kos tersembunyi ke? kat bank ar-rahnu mana yang terbaik nak buat teknik overlap emas ni?

jeng jeng jeng. mari tengok kes study ni. kes ini melibatkan gadaian pertama di agro bank selama 10 bulan, sebelum overlap pertama dilakukan.

1. teknik overlap ini amat bergantung kepada kenaikan harga emas pada setiap kali overlap dibuat. seperti contoh di atas, selepas overlap sekali, dapat cash RM1,149.15. ini adalah duit bersih selepas ditolak segala hutang pada Gadaian Pertama. jadi kehebatan teknik ini bergantung kepada:

- perbezaan antara harga beli emas (PG, 1Gold, etc) dan harga emas ar-rahnu sewaktu gadaian.
- loan margin yang diberikan ar-rahnu
- upah simpan yang dikenakan oleh ar-rahnu
- kenaikan harga emas sewaktu overlap dilakukan

2. harus diingat bahawa selepas overlap dilakukan, walaupun mendapat duit cash seribu lebih, jumlah hutang kepada ar-rahnu juga bertambah. begitu juga jumlah upah simpan. jadi kalau harga emas jatuh atau mendatarrrr je, maka tergoleklah nak bayar balik bila tempoh gadaian sudah expire.

3. jadi amatlah penting pada waktu yang sama, duit yang diperolehi sewaktu Gadaian Pertama (RM12,474) digunakan untuk tujuan investment yang lain (main saham, trading emas, dan sebagainya). jangan pula digunakan untuk beli ipad2 pulak ye.

contoh kiraan kasar kalau disimpan di dalam asb, maka dapatlah (7% x 12,474) = RM873 setahun.

4. harga emas agro bank jarang diupdate, harga emas bank rakyat pula di update daily. jadi lagi senanglah nak ber-overlap di bank rakyat. boleh monitor harganya di ar-rahnu exchange.

5. comparison of loan margin and upah simpan charge between agro bank and bank rakyat ar-rahnu (as of today) adalah lebih kurang.

6. lokasi bank adalah penting supaya dapat timing untuk pergi overlap bila harga naik. juga untuk mengurangkan traveling cost untuk pergi overlap. kalau duduk kerteh nak gi overlap kat klang susahlah kan.

7. sekarang ar-rahnu dah tak terima gadaian gold bars or coins. so kalau nak buat teknik overlap kena guna barang kemas sahaja. mungkin dimasa akan datang ar-rahnu akan buka balik untuk gold bar. tapi tak tahu bila lah...

8. kalau tidak mampu untuk menebus emas selepas tamat tempoh, emas akan dilelong oleh ar-rahnu. lebihan harga lelongan selepas ditolak pinjaman, upah simpan and small management fee akan dikembalikan kepada customer.

9. advantage simpan kat ar-rahnu adalah emas tu selamat, emas tu verified by the tester berat and purity dia, dan kita dapat duit pajakan untuk disaurkan ke sumber2 lain. kalau setakat nak buy and hold emas, lebih baik simpan di safe deposit yang mana upah sewa jauh lebih murah dari upah simpan ar-rahnu.

kesimpulannya teknik ini amat bagus kalau betul2 menggunakan duit pinjaman itu untuk dikembangkan lagi, ditambah pula kalau harga emas terus naik dan naik macam sekarang.

wordless: finding balance in life

2011-09-14T12:30:00.000+08:00

homestay or guest home: punca pendapatan hebat menggunakan airbnb.

2011-09-13T20:51:00.000+08:00

earlier this year once our tenancy for suriamas apartment ended in march, we decided to give homestay a go. mostly because we thought that we needed a place to stay from time to time if we want to go or lepak in kl. even though the demand for long term rental by students was attractive, some are even willing to pay rm2,100 a month for our apartment. banyak tu (note: rental market at sunway area memang terbaek)...

we used airbnb.com as our main (actually only) marketing platform. the website offers a listing of apartments and studios and houses to be rented on short term basis (daily, weekly or monthly). all over the world, all types of accommodation. unique accommodations like tree houses pun ada. it even has an iphone app that will trigger a message if anyone is interested with our apartment. we can reply messages, manage bookings, edit our listings on the go. convenient maaa!!!

how airbnb works.

1. potential tenants can check the description and photos of a property they like and also the reviews posted by previous tenants as a reference.

2. they can message for any additional info required from the owner, including arrangements on how to collect the keys, etc. owner must reply in order to keep their good rating.

3. once agreed, a booking shall be made by tenants and accepted by owner, upon which a full payment is deducted from tenant's credit card.

4. the website will charge both the tenants (up to 10%) and the owner (3%) for each successful booking made.

5. money will be deposited to owner's account on the day that the tenants checked in.

6. tenants leave a review the apartment and the service given by the owner after their stay. owner leave a review on the tenants too.

7. airbnb gives rating to both the owner and tenants so that people can use the rating as reference.

so far we have rented out the apartment via airbnb website for four times. alhamdulillah they all went well and we managed to pocket some decent money from it. dapat tenants from singapore, phillipines and australia. layan jugakk. it was pretty interesting to listen to their live stories.

apart from that, we have also managed to rent out the unit to two other customers. in fact our first ever customer rented the apartment for a full month! memang masyuk laa masuk duit. terus dapat cover three months of instalment. waktu ni baru tahu kehebatan tokey-tokey homestay ni..

we also have been on the other side, as a tenant using this service. we rented a room for our holiday in new york last year and also an apartment for our family vacation in hong kong this year. memang saved a lot of money. furthermore stay kat apartments ni boleh masak2 kat dapur tu..

all in all, i am fully satisfied with airbnb as an effective marketing tool for homestay accommodation, both for owner and tenants, malaysia or anywhere. any enquiries are supported by 24 hour helpline. memang website ni bagi service terbaik bagi promosi rumah sewa atau home stay. boleh masuk part of tips untuk menjadikan homestay business berjaya laa kiranya.

but of course it is not always pretty and happy stories all the time being a homestay operator ni. there are a lot of commitments required and challenges that need to be tackled. but then mana ada sumber duit senang sekarang ni apart from joining some shoddy pyramid schemes, right?

but those are stories for another day...

great loan offer for credit card settlement by kopetro

2011-09-11T17:53:00.001+08:00

- this entry is re-posted due to accidental deletion -

kopetro is offering a credit card settlement facility for its members. up to rm30k can be applied.

at 0% profit rate charged by kopetro for the loan, this is a good opportunity to do a lump sum payment on credit card outstanding debt (therefore avoiding the high credit card interest of 18% per annum) and service the loan in monthly instalments instead.

as highlighted by wakif's on the original posting, the zero percent offer is too good to be true. there must be some payment required in terms of "management fee" involved in order for kopetro to make some profit. i suspect that the fee charge to be similar to their short term personal loan offer, which is 5%.

sapa nak bagi pinjam duit free-free, ye tak?

mahalnya kena bayar service honda city 40km!!!

2011-09-10T21:09:00.000+08:00

last month i paid rm970 for our honda city 40km service. kopakkkk. i had it done at usj car express, the only honda service centre around subang area. the centre itself was good. spacious air-conditioned seating area, with astro, wifi and free coffee dispenser. the staff were friendly too.

honda city service is required every 5km. average cost per normal service is around rm190. major service for 20km is around rm500 (cannot really remembered how much i paid).

for next car purchase i have to really study the overall cost of car ownership (servicing cost, insurance, road tax, spare parts, warranty, resale value, etc) rather than just consider the monthly instalment. for some manufacturer like toyota only requires service every 10km (volkswagen even more at 15km intervals).

wordless golf update

2011-09-07T08:00:00.000+08:00

Tu dia mahalnya emas!

2011-09-06T19:26:00.001+08:00

today the gold price peaked at usd1900/ounce. i can see big smiles on faces of fellow gold investors. those who are on the sidelines can only watch with envy. maybe for them it's too late to start buying into gold. gold has peaked. harga emas akan jatuh...

or is it?

they will just have to wait and see...(just like they did a year ago).

kisah benar:
sebelum raya saya jual sekeping emas public gold 20g pada harga RM3,650 (murah betul jual harga kawan-kawan). saya beli pada harga RM2,856 pada bulan september 2010 (setahun yang lalu).

3,650 - 2,856 = RM794
(794 / 2,856) x 100 = 27.8% a year!

ini baru contoh 20g. bayangkan kalau investor emas tegar yang main kilo-kilo!!!

P/S: bertuah betul brader yg beli dari saya sebelum raya hari tu. dalam masa dua minggu dah boleh untung RM131 kalau dia jual balik emas dia dengan harga PG Buy hari ini (3,781 - 3,650).

pesanan penaja:
belilah sikit emas sebagai sebahagian portfolio. 10% pun dah cukup.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

apartment persanda 3 shah alam: good prospect?

2011-09-04T23:02:00.001+08:00

i have been eyeing this apartment for quite sometime. i even called a few owners who wanted to sell the apartment on the secondary market (note: pic from iproperty website).

the apartment specs:
name: persanda 3 apartment.
address: Jalan Boling Padang 13/64, Section 13, Selangor
status: leasehold
built up: 928 sqft
bedroom: 3 beds, 2 baths
facilities: bbq, cafe, 1 parking, gym, playground, pool, 24hour security
developer: hr united (similar to our suriamas apartment)

asking price: between RM200k to RM270k.

close to Federal, NKVE, Elite, KESAS and Gutherie Highways.

near to MSU, TESCO, UiTM, Giant and Stadium Shah Alam.

potential rental: RM1,100 to RM1,500

this apartment is very close to MSU, so should not be a problem to get tenants. but even after rough calculation, the rental gained can only cover the loan and maintenance fee. kalau ada untung pun ciput. so i'm undecided...

now if only i can get this apartment for around 170k... yum yum!

Historical ASB, Tabung Haji, KWSP and Kopetro dividends

2011-09-02T12:56:00.008+08:00

Comparison of ASB, Tabung Haji, EPF and Kopetro historical dividends and bonuses for the past 11 years.

wonder what will the ASB dividend for 2011 be? my guess around 8%.

2011 Tabung Haji and KWSP/EPF dividen pulak akan lebih kurang jugak kot. habis tinggi pun 6%.

Average returns for the past 11 years:

ASB: 7.50% + 1.75%

TABUNG HAJI: 4.57%

EPF: 5.13%

*KOPETRO: 9.0% + 8.8% (*5 yr ave)

Sikit-sikit lama-lama jadi bukit.

P/S: dah berapa lama kerja baru start nampak bukit?

Salam Aidilfitri 2011

2011-09-01T13:24:00.002+08:00

Selamat Hari Raya.

Maaf Zahir Batin.

Tahun ni jimat jumpa baju melayu murah, RM45 sepasang kat Pasar Payang. Bunga api / mercun pun tak beli sebab takde dealer tahun ni kat ofis.

Tapi boleh pulak salah budget duit raya. Previous year selalu ada terlebih, so tahun ni kurangkanlah sikit, sekali tak cukup pulak. Sampai tahap gi tukar duit kat stesen minyak tu..

Note to self: Tahun depan budget lebih sikit.

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alkisah public mutual lagi...

2011-08-26T13:00:00.006+08:00

last week we went to PM office in bangsar. we can request from the officer to print out a summary statement of all funds that we have invested in. very very useful, especially for those who have agent sengal yang after buat sales, takde follow up report pun...

public islamic oportunities fund (piof): 99% return in 6 years!
public islamic select sector fund (pissf): 20% return in 3.5 years!
public china ittikal fund (pcif): -23% in 3.5 years!

pcif still maintains a negative return, despite being more than three years in the market. hampagas betul! time to cut the losses and sell them off!!!

we can actually sell the units by ourselves at the PM office, there's no need to go through our agent.

our epf fund investment on the other hand:

pief (29/8/08): 32% in 3 years
pidf (7/9/09): 24% in 2.5 years

i am sticking to my plan to constantly invest a portion of my epf money into mutual funds. once or twice every year.

Life at new job

2011-08-22T23:09:00.002+08:00

I love my new job. Although a lot of things need to be learnt especially in term of project management and tendering processes, I really like it very much. I think mostly because of how much 'engineer' it makes me feel, compared to my previous position as maintenance engineer. Read drawings, do technical evaluations, perform calculations and sizing, review design, join testing, etc. I felt that I have become better technically. Electrical standards pun agak selalu tengok/baca compared to dulu. Lepas ni patutnya dah boleh jawab soalan pasal design yang tak dapat dijawab waktu assessment dulu-dulu.

This is my focus for this year. Upgrading UPS from Conventional Type to Modular Type. Although to some it is comparatively a small project, to me it is BIG. First ever project tuu. Ada sentimental value. I am praying hard that everything goes well. Luckily I have trusted buddies that I can refer to whenever I have problems or issues along the way, which has really helped a lot.

All in all I have seven projects this year. Ada yang on track, ada yang fast track, ada yang delay. Macam-macam ada.

Welcome to the world of project management.

P/S: Kerja baru ni banyak outstation compared to kerja lama, which means ada extra income dari outstation claim. LIKE!

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neo progress payment

2011-08-19T22:40:00.007+08:00

lamanya tak update! been so consumed with work lately. this new job has really taking up my time, especially with all the travelling involved.

anyway. that's story for another day.

i started paying progress interest payment for our neo damansara apartment to ambank since june 2011. cost me rm258 per month. one bad thing about this new loan is the late payment fee of rm10 if we miss a 14-day window from the due date. so far dah 3 bulan missed by a few days. that's rm30 down the drain. hampeh.

anyway the building construction progress looks ok. they have completed until 16th floor. a few more floors to go.

recently the developer has also launched sale of second block service apaartment, and from what i read it was selling like hot pisang goreng. good news. people are still buying it even though the price is higher that what i paid.

hopefully they can finish it on time.

kopetro dividend 2010

2011-06-18T11:08:00.003+08:00

kopetro has declared dividend for financial year ended 31st December 2010.

10% on Share
9% on Saving
2% on Special Saving

Nice. Tinggi lagi dari ASB...

ramai pulak jadi gold expert!

2011-04-24T20:04:00.011+08:00

nak update pasal hong kong, tapi takde mood la pulak.

update pasal gold lah. riuh rendah geng2 emas lately, mana taknya last week price dia mencanak naik melepasi paras harga usd1,500. tersenyumlah mereka yang baru berjinak-jinak simpan sebahagian saving dalam bentuk gold. alhamdulillah.

kalau google pasal blog emas, bersepah2 orang main emas sekarang ni, dah jadi macam trend pulak. gold is no longer just part of investment portfolio. sekarang dah jadi business emas pulak. makin ramai jadi tokey emas.

yang offer harga dalam facebook pun ada jugak. punya laa fight sampai ada yg jual emas rendah lagi dari harga yang publish kat official website. huhuhu. competition among dealerlah ni rasanya. mungkin diorang jual stock lama yang diorang beli waktu harga rendah dulu2. terpulanglah strategi masing2.

product pulak makin banyak di pasaran, sampai dah tak sempat nak follow. ada demand, ada laa supply. contoh list emas jongkong yang ada dealer offer kat facebook:

Public Gold, Kijang Emas, GCP, Sri Ayu, Dinar/Dirham RESTU, Dinar/dirham KGT, Perth Mint, Snowflake Pink, Bungaraya, Pamp Suisse, Pamp Lady Fortuna, Sunshine Bar, Dinar Perak, Dinar Kelantan, Australian Nugget, Logam Mulia.

perggghhhh. dah jadi macam mutual funds la pulak...

satu lagi makin ramai pulak buat offer kelas gold investment. tiba2 jer ramai pulak claim 'expert'. siap ada offer yang memang menarik. ada "seminar manipulasi stok emas", "Bagaimana memulakan biz emas dgn modal RM000", "Financial Freedom with Gold". macam-macam ada..

dasyat2 betul marketing.

adakah sudah terlambat untuk menyertai band-wagon gold rush mania ini?

lu pikir la sendiri...

saham bank rakyat

2011-04-17T20:32:00.013+08:00

i know this is late news... i don't care. after patiently waiting in line at the bank for almost two hours, i am now a proud owner of rm500 worth of 'saham bank rakyat'. finally.

although they put rm500 cap on each individual application, we can still apply for some extra portion by filling in an application form, macam gambar kat atas tu. based on the officer who handled my registration, up to rm100k can be applied, then a committee will decide and approve the final amount, if any. i don't put too much hope though. kalau ada rezeki, dapat lah. kalau tak, bukan rugi apa pun.

historically, the dividend payout has been consistent at 15% for the past 5-7 years. but the officer told me that the dividend will be paid directly into my saving account, so there's no compounding effect as far as saham bank rakyat is concerned.

still, sapa nak bagi free2 75 ringgit every year, right?

dapat top 3!!!

2011-04-16T20:17:00.012+08:00

huhu almost a month without any update. so many things have happened that i wanna log about. trip to hongkong, new apartment project, etc etc. but first thing first... hari ni dapat top three at our local club monthly tournament!

handicap 23, 38 points (stableforth).

main golf dapat duit juta-juta!

2011-03-25T20:01:00.009+08:00

when luke donald won the 2011 wgc-accenture match play golf tournament, he pocketted a cool $1.4m in prize money as a champion. that's rm4.2 millions for four days work.

picture googled. mana laa tak senyum mamat ni kan???

that is the measure of how much money golfers competing in pga tour are playing for. gila babas banyak. normally total prize money for a single tournament ranges from $3m to over $9m!!!

closer to home, in asian tour, the money offered is not bad either. maybank malaysian open is among the top with a total of $2.5m offered. memang best la jadi professional golfers ni. tapi kalau menang laa, kalau tak menang kang upah caddy pun tak boleh nak bayar pulak...

for the rest of us, we join monthly golf tournament at our local club saje lah, apa lagi! tapi dia punya hadiah tak masyukkk laa. hadiah pun pakai bagi voucher giant or parkson je. hehehe. kalau tak salah champion dapat dalam rm400 gitu (tak sure sebab tak pernah jadi champion lagi, huhu). this year i joined two tournaments and alhamdulillah, both times dapat top 10 and belasah voucher sikit-sikit. january medal dapat no 8 (rm50), march medal dapat no 5 (rm80). increasing trend ni. harap2 next tournament dapat top 3 lah pulak. the winning is not that important (tak banyak pun kan), yang penting dapat improve skills and the mental side of the game...

january 2011: 1-over par, handicap 20 (no 8 medal-b)

march 2011: par, handicap 21 (no 5 medal-b)

opening a new leaf...

2011-03-24T21:42:00.006+08:00

after six and a half years!

syukur yang amat sekali. moga dipermudahkan kerjaya dan dimurahkan rezeki...

looking back, i was really thankful for the experience (both good and bad) that i've gained there. it made me a worker that i'm today. i'm forever indebted, particularly, to electrical chargemen that have taught and helped me soo much. kalau diorang ni tak ajar, berat laaa kawe. mahu single line drawing pun tak tahu baca jawabnya...

may Allah bless all of them, always.

got junks? turn it to cash!

2011-03-01T20:00:00.008+08:00

we have a lot of stuff that we rarely use lying around in the house. even worse, some of them have not been opened from their original packaging! so when wifey's company organised a garage sale event, we took that opportunity to do spring cleaning to our store room and sell off our stuff.

the reception that we got surpassed our expectation. siap kat office member-member lawan bidding lagi harga barang. memang mantaplah. almost all of our stuff now have a new owner to serve. hehehe. to be fair we sold them at unresistable price. imagine a good condition dkny handbag at rm35, guitar rm18, sony ps2 rm50, a new deep fryer at rm30. even barang2 yg tak rasa orang nak beli pun laku weeh. nasib baik tak buang.

in the end store rumah dah clear, duit pun masyuuukkk...

i was so excited that i even took time to make flyers! (marketing strategy baeekkk punya).

Bangkok Trip yg best!

2011-02-08T20:03:00.039+08:00

we went for a short getaway to bangkok during chinese new year weekend. i was quite nervous since this was the first trip that i planned for both of us. planning on what to do and visit, how to travel around bangkok, where to eat halal food, etc etc. memang susah woo! normally dear wifey will be in charge, but she's pretty occupied at work. my last futile effort was back in sheffield when i arranged a trip to belgium, and the whole thing have to be cancelled because of the 9/11 event that occured two days before our departure date. for this trip, i'd give myself a B- (due to some hiccups. nasib baik a pro intervened, hehe). will improve further lah for our next trip...

back to bangkok...

first of all get baht at midvalley, it's cheaper. we got RM10.1 for 100B. at lcct the rate was RM11.3!

we travelled with airasia, the price was a bit steep because of last minute booking. tersilap purchased luggage allowance for the outbound trip, patut beli for return journey je. plus the online pre-purchase meal is cheaper because it includes free tea/coffee. kalau food saje sama je kalau beli onboard.

arrived at suvarnabumi airport on friday morning and quickly used its express train to the city, stopping at makhsan station at a cost of 75B. from there we took taxi to new world hotel. cost us 130B. we booked the hotel via at agoda.com. hebat website ni. this three-star hotel set us back RM103 per night. it is located on the samsen road / khaosan road area and there was no MRT or BTS route close by. so we had to move around with taxi, or tuk tuk or go on foot. for the trip back from hotel to airport, we used hotel transfer sebab awal pagi (4.40am from hotel to catch 7.15am flight back) and beg berat with all the shoppings. cost us 550B for 45 minute drive.

the hotel area was... nice. very bangkok-like. surrounded by old buildings and shops. in daytime the road was boring, but as the sun set, the area became happening, full of mat sallehs lepak2 makan kuehteow and other thai delicacies.. tapi the shops jual barbey, so kitorang tak try lah. the main reason we chose new world was due to availabilty of halal food at its sara restaurant. the most famous being 'phad-thai' lah. so breakfast makan banyak2, then got through the day with thai desserts (pulut mangga, miangkham, fruits, coconut ice cream, etc) jer before coming back at night and belasah room service (around 150B per dish, very affordable lah).

chatuchak market was... awesome!!! over 8,000 shops selling everything on earth. it is located in north area of bangkok and between 100B to 150B taxi ride away from our hotel (depending on taxi driver punya skill and tahap penipuan mereka). went there on friday, then again on saturday because shops banyak close on weekday. the market can also be reached via MRT khampaeng park station. there's leather stuff, thai silk, kitchen stuff, jewelries, souvenirs, animals, foods, furniture, electronics, gardening, children toys, posters, art products, etc. we had a great time over there, though tak habis round semua kedai lah. letih jalan2 and shopping, took breaks with desserts and drinks at plenty stalls in the market. even foot massage is available.

bargain was the order of the day. tak bargain, kena cekik laa jawabnya. first offer must be around 30-50% of quoted price. then pandai2 laa tebal muka mintak diskaun, buat2 nak blah from kedai, or cakap kedai lain offer lagi murah. tapi kadang2 malu laa gak nak mintak diskaun ni. so ada gak laa rasa we've overpaid some items. another tip is beli banyak2, so dapat laa better deal. there was also international delivery service overthere, so boleh laa nak borong all the furniture or pinggan mangkuk dan sebagainya...

floating market was.... over-rated. simply because there were more boats with tourists on board than the locals selling daily produces. it was still a great experience and worth a visit. we just didn't think it was worth paying 150B per head to get sun burnt on the hand-rowed boats. you'd better off strolling on the banks of the canal. we paid 350B per person at the hotel's tourist info desk (i presume other hotels have one too), inclusive of round-trip by van to the jetty (which was 1.5hrs drive from the city) and 'james bond' boat fee from jetty to the floating market. the motorboat took us through the canal before arriving at the market. bila dah sampai market tu boleh laa nak jalan2 or bayar extra untuk naik sampan manual pulak. we spent two hours taking pictures and eating (makan lagi???) before getting back to the hotel.

thai food was... deliciouso! first time here i tried phad-thai and miangkham. tom yum gung rasa ok jer. then there were coconut ice cream, pauh mangga, nasi goreng, pisang bakar. sara restaurant at the new world hotel is one of the famous halal restaurant in bangkok. another one that we went was mak yah muslim restaurant, which was about 3km away from the main shopping area (siam square). it was close to hotel asia. from the main entrance, turn left and walk until a junction which has a fly-over. the shop is located accross the street (go below the fly-over). it's easier to go there by taxi. we kena katok guna tut-tut (200B from siam square? dah la tak jumpa pun restraurant tu, kena walk by foot pulak from hotel asia. hampeh). another halal food joints can also be found at the fifth floor of mcb shopping centre. other than these three restaurants, we buy desserts and fruits from the street vendors laa. for more halal restaurant in bangkok (or other cities for that matter), go to zabihah.com.

wah, this is too long of an entry. dah letih la nak tulis. other activites were window shopping at the complexes around siam square (mcb centre, siam paragorn, little siam, siam discovery as well as hard rock cafe lah.. to get our shot glass collection). we also went to siam niramit show at night (950B per person). it was expensive, but the 1.5hrs show was good and also included entry to thai traditional village which showed thais way of living. siap ada elephant ride lagi (at additional cost laa). taxi from hotel cost 100B. klu budget ciput, boleh skip laa. emmm, apa lagi? biasalah check out one of the many wats they have here in bangkok and also thai massage (balik2 tgk harga kat seremban 2 almost tripple for a same massage). night markets were nice too, but bila dah letih jalan2 siang hari, malam nak keluar pun malas. lainlah mat salleh yang suka ber par-tey...

as a closing, i just have to put up this photo as a sign of respect to the thai electrical engineers and also to remind myself not to ever apply for a job at bangkok's supply authority... scarry!

awana genting golf resort

2011-01-24T20:29:00.009+08:00

last weekend i went golfing awana genting. it was a company's annual golf tournament. previously it was held at bukit tinggi. memang suka main kat hilly course laa geng2 office nih.

this 18 hole layout is a very challenging course, requires super accurate driving off the tee. with out of bounds and hazards on either sides at almost every holes, it is easy to loose the ball. even if the ball landed on the fairway, there is every chance of the player losing it too, due to the sogginess of the fairway. so plenty of spare balls are needed for the first timers. typically for a hilly course, the tees, fairways and greens are at different levels at every hole. so club selection is crucial for each shot.

i scored pretty ok. placed 15th out of eighty players. dapat laa voucher parkson.

pchem shares: handsome return!

2011-01-19T19:33:00.021+08:00

yeaaa! finally managed to sell of our pchem share at rm6.20. happy! first time ever experience stock trading, dapat 20% return in two months! patut laa ramai orang kayo-rayo main saham nih (likewise ramai yang jadi kayappppp).

i used cimb-itrade website for the trading, since i created my cds account with them. the website is super cool. senang meh nak jual-beli saham.

first go to 'trading hall' after successfully logged into the website... then pick the share, right-click and select 'sell'...

the selected share name will appear at the bottom corner. key in the target price and amount of units to be sold. detail calculation will appear, including the nett gain after deduction of trading fee.

a trading pin is required to complete the transation. this is pre-registered during creation of cds account. one final check and with one click on the sell button......... walla!

the sell order can be viewed in the 'order book' page. once the target price is reached and the share is sold, an email will be sent for notification. simple gila!

eventhough the price of pchem is expected to go higher than rm6.20, i was content with the gain made. ok lah tu. tak boleh tamak2. ada friends yang let go earlier at rm5.70, ada yg still waiting for the price to hit rm6.70, even rm7.00. i guess it depends on ones' risk appetite.

what an opening eye experience! boleh slow2 belajar trading nih. baru laa tahu bila nak beli, bila nak jual balik, etc.

just following the crowd and hearsay is definitely a recipe for disaster!

public mutual investment cantek!

2011-01-16T20:07:00.018+08:00

i watched man utd vs spurs last night. the 0-0 draw was not typical of man utd-spurs match which normally is a high scoring game. i even had time to check our update on public mutual investment (eventhough not much, still have to monitor from time to time). since i've sold pissf and the dissappointing picf (ada ke fund invested kat china yang return ok???), the only funds left are pief (public islamic equity fund) and pidf (public islamic dividend fund). both of which i used mt epf money.

PIEF: 41% within 2 years and 5 months.

PIDF: 28% within 1 year and four months

alhamdulillah. so far so good.

on the other hand, if i had stayed on which the other two funds mentioned earlier:

PICF: -14% after 3 years!!! hampeh!

PISSF: 29% after three years good!

overall, with exception of PCIF, i think that after 3 years, the return from mutual funds is pretty good. it is designed to be a medium to long term investment option anyway. our first ever venture in public mutual fund was PIOF back in 2005 (baru masuk keje, sikit je masuk), and check out the return:

PIOF: 142% within 5 years and six months!!!

i just remembered that we can now invest our epf money into public ittikal too! this particular fund has been the key incidator to pm's islamic funds. kira fund yang paling popularlah. kalau tanya agent/s, mesti graph public ittikal ni yang selalu dijaja2. sebab performance dia memang mantapppp.

mmm, nak keluar lagi ke tak duit epf ni???

honda city

2011-01-13T23:16:00.005+08:00

we finally owned a honda!!! actually it's been a while dah, since before puasa last year. dah lama myself personally nak ada keta honda. sejak zaman ada honda civic bullet lagi. tapi apakan daya, tak berapa mampu waktu awal2 kerja dulu. after 5 years survived with just one car, ke hulu ke hilir, sometimes tumpang kawan2 kalau ada outstation ke kl, we deserved to add a second car laa kan (tu pun tambah after both of us dah naik pangkat, so tak laa rasa bersalah sangat). lagipun kesian our old car kia rio, dah almost 220km he has covered. now with city around, he can relax his muscle a bit...

this car we bought at honhin kuantan. the sales guy was really2 nice. until now he still keeps in touch with me. selalu call tanya khabar. of course laa dia asyik cucuk suruh upgrade ke honda accord...

so mana satu pusat service honda yang bagus kat kuantan?

naturally, i sent the car to honhin laa, sebab beli kat sana. the waiting room is small, muat laa 5-6 orang. wifi ada. it is in the city centre, near traffic light to teluk cempedak. owners normally take a cab to the mall close by, then comeback once their car is ready for pick up. but most of my frens prefer macinda kuantan. altough a bit far from the centre (located in semambu) the waiting room is bigger, with wifi, tv, and play area for the kids. tak silap ada free coffee lagi. i never been there, so i cannot judge which service centre is better. tapi honda kuantan kalau hari jumaat memang queue panjang gila. so pergi mana2 service centre pun sama je la kot. hari tu pulak pernah try service 20k at ttdi shah alam. pantas dan tuntas. 1 jam 45 minutes jer dah siap...

ingat tak nak upgrade kereta sampai dua2 dah habis bayar... boleh ke?

tabung haji dividend 2010

2011-01-13T22:58:00.005+08:00

looks like 2010 dividend/bonus for tabung haji depositors will be higher than previous year, as TH achieved its highest ever profit of rm1.5b for 2010. read here
.
2009's bonus was at 5%, tahun 2010 ni kalau dapat 6% pun dah kira tinggi, considering tak perlu bayar zakat dah kalau simpan kat tabung haji. tahun 2011 nanti boleh consider tambah portion simpanan kat tabung haji.

ajl 25

2011-01-10T19:59:00.005+08:00

pic googled

semalam layan ajl 25. dulu zaman muda-mudi memang layan gila aah (waktu sekolah takde astro, so tengok apa ada kat tv3 je laa). memang mantaplah persembahan artist malam tu, berbaloi miss game man utd vs liver-fools kat espn.

paling best layan kreativiti local bands and artist, especially yg karang lagu sendiri. faizar tahir memang layaklah memang persembahan terbaik, tapi hafiz dapat best vocal??? biar betik.

anyway anna rafali dengan lagunya tolong ingatkan aku, menang the biggest prize of the night. membawa pulang rm35,000 cash.

kalau kita mahu makan 2-3 tahun baru boleh simpan cash banyak tu...

memang pendapatan untuk orang2 kreatif and inventors ni masyuuk. buat lagu, buat filem, tulis buku, invent facebook dan sebagainya.

kalau macam aku setakat main gitar pakai chords C, Am, F, G ni, ditambah dengan vocal yang monotonous. kirim salam lahhh....

pchem price hike

2011-01-08T10:16:00.004+08:00

mmm. officemates went nuts when the price of pchem shares soared to record high of rm6.00 per share after a few weeks of lingering around rm5.50. ada yang dah jual, ada yang nak tunggu naik lagi. myself nak jual lah next week, kalau jual at rm6.00:

(6.00-5.04)/5.04 x 100 = 19% return

ok lah 19% return dalam masa 2 bulan...

asb dividend 2010

2011-01-03T19:57:00.007+08:00

3rd jan 2010. i went to the bank today and...... perrrgghhh. ramainya umat! semua dengan senyum berdebar menanti nak update buku. tahun 2010 pnb declared asb dividend of 7.5% and 1.25% bonus. this is a little bit higher than the previous year. ok ke? personally i think should be higher, but since tak terer economics, so tak nak aaa debate. let's hope that dividend declared for asb 2011 will be higher.

so what to do with the dividend? mine of course to purchase a gold bar. why? because of its price appreciation for 2010 (source: kitco.com). been reading a few publications that estimate the price could go up to usd2000/ounce in 2011. dulu2 waktu i first purchased gold in september, the estimated year end 2010 price was usd1500, lastly ended up around usd1420. ok lah estimate tu. total appreciation for 2010 was around 30%. my plan for gold this year is to purchase every quarter, to see the effect of cost averaging.

what a start to 2011!

2011 targets

2011-01-01T11:36:00.013+08:00

hello 2011!

last year did not put anything in writing, this year wanna do it. so here goes:

1. enjoy life to the fullest life and live happily. everyday nak rasa best macam makan tulang atas tu.

2. saving target of rm40k in cash, 10k in gold. then need to find new tenants for suriamas apartment. that's it. nak menggemukkan saving untuk future plans.

3. travel target this year will be bangkok, hong kong and europe. mmm best nyer!

4. get my Ir status. tinggal final report and interview je ni.

5. get handicap lowered to 21.

6. nak improve skill photoshop.

7. nak tingkatkan fitness. sejak main golf ni, jogging 5km pun kaput. main futsal 10 min pun letih.

semoga segalanya berjalan lancar!

2010: year that was...

2010-12-31T21:02:00.004+08:00

what a year 2010 turned out to be... i cherished all the beautiful moments and continuous blessings that i had, and the bad events as well, for that has made me more matured as i intend to start my first year in the 3-series-club with a bang, macam gol safee sali kat stadium bung karno hari tu...

on the money making front:
i think i did pretty ok this year. continued to save in asb, tabung haji and kopetro on monthly basis. no addition to public mutual. i started to put some into gold (public gold) and share (pchem). our suriamas apartment rental income (and tenant) was good too, plus i purchased neo damansara studio unit which will be ready in 2012. while all of these will not make me retire at 35, i still think i did ok.

on career and everything that came with it:
i got promoted to senior executive after 5 and a half year of working, which was pretty decent, but not spectacular (ada orang buat 3 tahun jer). gaji naik, kerja sama. i should be happy, but i wasn't. the job became too routine for me. when a proposed move fell thru back in october, i was devastated, started to become moody and picky at work. ada laa ter-send a few emails sound boss and colleagues, which i then regret very much. but there were some great moments too, especially part that made me felt like an engineer, during commissioning or troubleshooting or plant turnaround, as well as outstations and office events macam futsal etc..

on traveling and enjoying life:
our usa trip was super fun. it realy was the highlight of 2010. until now i still remember it vividly. but then apart from a short business trip to singapore and a weekend spent in melaka, we did not go anywhere else, which i deeply regret. banyak nak kena cover 2011 nanti.
i rewarded myself with an iphone and a laptop this year (occasional impulse buys like pants and golf caps tu ada jugakk la, but minimal ok!). pastu angkat honda city sebijik so now whenever either of us needs to go outstation, tak perlu tumpang2 orang dah. though i missed sending her to work bila dah ada dua keta nie.

on golf and photography:
played plenty of golf this year. but am still hoping to be better at it. apart from exercise and my way of spending some 'me' time, i had to admit that the networking i get from it is very very benificial.
golf took most of my weekends away, therefore my lack of improvement in photography was evident. i semangat gila early in the year (siap buat 2 weddings lagi tu), but then realised the amount of energy required in photo-editing is a lot! so i kind of gave it up, just guna my d90 bila ada family or work events je..

on life as it is:

until now i can't figure out what our future will be like. it's difficult to make decisions to change life directions when being tied to a work contract. maybe later bila contract dah habis can make drastic changes. four years to go and in the mean time kena increase savings, just in case. my feelings always changes: sometimes wanna work and live in kl. sometimes i like the slow and peaceful life in kerteh. sometimes felt like leaving it all and migrate to some place else. we had our challenges and 'ujian's from up above and they can sometimes made me doubt. i've gotten used to it now and berserah and realised that i can either be all moody about it or embrace what life has to offer. and that is just what i'm planning to do.

2011.. get ready. it's gonna be legen............dary!
(quote barney from how i met your mother series).

proud to be malaysian!

2010-12-30T22:27:00.006+08:00

never been soooo proud to have a malaysian passport!

memang terbaiklah team malaysia yang menang aff suzuki cup 2010. better than team yang lawan man united atau chelsea hari tu... better than team yang lawan england dulu...

aff cup started very slow for malaysian team, but then they showed great maturity and class to grow as the tournament progresses. sampai bila masuk final tu, mana2 rakyat yang dok kutuk2 bila kena belasah ngan indon 5-1 dalam group stage tu dah mula puji2 balik... hahaha. sampai awek2 or makcik pakcik yg tak pernah tahu pasal bola (apa lagi pasal offside rule) pun dah start kenal sapa apek or kuna or norshahrul. even myself rasa bersalah gak laa tak support diorang dari awal2. ingatkan the same old story with malaysian team. bila dah layak semi baru nak kenal2 players' name. huhu.

tapi tak kisahlah, janji sokong. better late than never.

after years of living behind the shadows of mokhtar dahari era, we finally managed

to win a recognised international senior level tournament (sea games tak kira, under 23 punya tuh..)

to win it playing proper football sampai espn commentator mat saleh pun terkejut tengok kualiti gol safee score waktu final..

to win it with a very young team. cerah masa depan..

to win it with malaysian born and bred players and coaching staff. semua geng makan roti canai and nasi lemak punya. budu pun belasah jugak.

and not to forget, to be tweeted by rio ferdinand...

malaysian team. you rock! now jangan lupa diri pulak ok!

nine years!

2010-12-23T13:27:00.003+08:00

i love u babe...

tolong kerajaan rm650

2010-12-10T20:42:00.002+08:00

last week i spent two hours at kemaman's police station to pay rm650 worth of speeding summons. some of them were dated way back in 2006. ramai gila orang bayar saman, memang menjadilah taktik kerajaan block road tax renewal and offer 50% discount ni.

i thought our seven tickets were a lot, but as it turned out orang lain punya lagi banyak. yang sampai berpuluh2 keping pun ada... laju betul rakyat malaysia bawak kereta. tapi kalau dah pakai caldina, stream, camry dan sebagainya takkan nak drive 110km/h jer atas highway kan?

kena drive smartly lepas ni. slow down at hotspots areas like flyovers maran, temerloh and lanchang on the east coast highway and near tudm exit on nkve (sebab kitorang punya saman kena kat situ!)...

banyak tu rm650. equivalent to dividend dapat kalau simpan around rm8k dalam asb setahun!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

pcg

2010-11-29T22:13:00.005+08:00

venturing into shares pulakkkk...

bought pcg shares as part of the company's staff offer. eventough there was a loan scheme offered (by ambank and cimb), i chose to use cash instead.

i am using cimb as brokerage firm.

their itrade website in really neat! i'm still getting the hang of it.

snapshot of the site. boleh monitor harga saham online. boleh buat jual beli sendiri (cheaper fee compared to using human broker, of course).

the purchased price was rm5.05. the opening day price was rm5.71, but today's closing price was rm5.40...

mmm, monitor dulu lah trending price ni. sambil2 carik sifu saham untuk belajar...

Layan sport rim kat kedai papan

2010-11-17T10:49:00.002+08:00

I had a chance to check out the most famous sport rims shop in kuala lumpur last weekend. The shop was huge!!! It has two sections, one side is for rims 16" and below the other side is for 17" and above.

Official shop name is 'perkhidmatan tayar hing leong', but more affectionately called 'kedai papan'. when i arrived, the shop was packed with customers selecting rims of their choice and negotiating the best they could get. The shop caters the demands with five replacement bays on each lot.

macam orang beli ikan kat pasar! the price was really cheap, compared to other places. even the trade-in price pun mahal jugak dia ambik.

kedai papan klang ni memang jual sport rims murah. address dia senang je. search petrol pump shell jalan kapar kat google map or garmin.

myself pun sempat usya few rims for our 'vintage' rio. After over 200km of loyal service, its time to upgrade it.

mmmm, mana satukah patut ku pilih ni?

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

mobile update

2010-11-13T19:28:00.002+08:00

testing testing.

hopefully with blogpress and iphone this blog will be updated at a more regular basis...

PEACE!

-Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Location:Jalan Lumba Kuda,Kuala Lumpur,Malaysia

public gold: demand kicks the supply ass..

2010-11-08T18:59:00.003+08:00

wahh, last week PG officially stops taking new order for its gold bar. It seems like more and more people are into gold at the moment, probably realising the important of keeping some portion of their assets in this form. The price maintains its positive uptrend so far, hovering around usd1390/ounce. looks like the year end target of usd1500/ounce might just be a reality.

tua on paper

2010-11-06T12:16:00.009+08:00

i am three-decade years old.

had lunch at italiannies, then karaoke, then watched a movie at cineleisure's platinum suite.

to top it off, got this present from her (guys, jangan jealous ok).

bye bye callaway... hello cleaveland cg7 black pearl!!!

thank you babeh. i love the irons very very very much!

takde birdie tara guna...

2010-10-20T11:36:00.003+08:00

last week i joined another tournament at awana. posted a pretty good score: 88 strokes overall. first time ever broke 90 over there. but since the format was system-36 stableforth, getting birdie(s) is a must in order to play under par and getting the main prize.

apakan daya... three birdie attempts, zero converted! dapat hadiah saguhati je. tapi ok gak sebab main medal-a. kalau pandai ejas handicap tadi, main medal-c, sure dah bawak balik 32'' lcd dah.

gotta put in some time learning to make birdie putts!!!

six years is too long...

2010-10-18T22:49:00.006+08:00

to be working at the same place, taking care the same equipment, driving on the same route, doing pretty much the same stuff everyday. never mind the different job titles (i got four of them there), different workstations, bigger paycheck, wider road to the office... it is still the same routine job. bosses came and went, each with their own agendas and initiatives and rules to be followed.

yet, i'm still here... hoping, praying and dreaming...

i still remembered reporting for duty at klcc, and then drove a kancil with wifey from kl to this little place called paka. damn. kampung gila. when we were in the uk, i had in my mind this idea of working in klcc and staying in a nice cosy apartment somewhere in kl. living the life. siap beli banyak gila office shirts and pants lagi.... tup tup kena kerja kat paka... tapi takde lah complain when the offer came. takde hal. back then tengah semangat lagi. wifey lagi best, siap reject an offer to work in kl and requested a position in kerteh. all in the name of love (and i really appreciate the sacrifice that u did babeh).

now, six years later. we are still here. hoping, praying and dreaming...

four years until the contract ends and be a free agent (macam football player la pulak, huhu). currently it is a bit difficult to decide on the future and make a move, since we definitely do not have spare cash to pay off the study loan (rm200k boleh beli apartment kat kl sebijik tu!).

in the mean time, got to keep my chin high, keep busy and realised that things happen for a reason. even if sometimes we cannot see it clearly...

pcgb ipo offer... beli ke tak beli?

2010-10-10T19:18:00.009+08:00

the company is offering option to its staff to purchase new ipo (initial public offering) for pcgb (petronas chemical group berhad) shares. this new entity is a merger of a few petrochemical companies under petronas. from my understanding (and with little knowledge about stocks, etc) normally, a company listing to bursa saham is made to raise cash for further expansion.

not really sure about the potential of this stock, however after a few discussions and online reading, here are a few pointers:

1. petronas will be the major shareholder (possibly 70% stake) to maintain majority control. other major players rumoured to be involved are epf and technip. only around 10% will be open to public.

2. this is malaysia's second largest ipo after maxis comm berhad. it is one of two offerings from petronas, the other one being mmhe (malaysian marine and heavy engineering sdn bhd). it is expected to raise around usd2b (around rm6b) from the process.

3. it is made from 22 companies under petronas, with total asset of rm27b (source: business times).

4. the ipo will likely to be published next month. so kena cepat2 buat cds (central depository system) account lah dengan bursa saham. nanti kempunan...

nak beli ke tak ni. tengok semua orang macam nak beli. ada yg siap apply loan lagi. tapi tak nak laa beli sebab orang lain beli. mmmmmmm... sapa laa yg expert boleh ku tanya?

apa2 hal buat cds account dulu (fee rm10 je). proceed ngan cimb sebab layan website itrade dia agak menarik. boleh belajar online stock trading lepas ni. lagipun dah ada cimb account, so senang la sket.

gold: break even dalam sebulan!!!

2010-10-07T14:45:00.009+08:00

wahhh, this is beyond my expectation. the price of gold continues its upward trend, and still climbing. at this rate, the expectation of hitting 1500usd per ounce is possible at year end. currently the price is hovering around 1300usd per ounce.

anyway, the bar that i purchased (and pajak) before raya has reached its break even value today. hehehe, i'm happy!!!

purchase price on 4/9/10: rm2,876
selling price on 7/10/10: rm2,880

wiken of golf.

2010-10-05T20:07:00.003+08:00

ryder cup was played in wales last weekend. so been spending a lot of time in front of the telly. i was rooting for europe team to win back the cup from their americans rival. and they did just that!

image from mirror.co.uk

highlights at www.rydercup.com

closer to home, menebas two days straight at courses nearby.

friday at awana: scored 92.

saturday at kgrp: scored 94.

cerita emas...naik lagi!!!

2010-10-01T21:56:00.020+08:00

kat khutbah or ceramah or kelas agama selalu dengar ustaz pesan ''sampaikanlah walau satu ayat"...

haa, ayat ni popular bagi geng2 yang invest in gold, especially tukang jual emas. so i share it here (dah meet requirement bahagian sharing dah ni):

Abu Bakar Ibn Abi Maryam melaporkan bahawa beliau mendengar Rasulullah SAW telah bersabda

"Akan tiba suatu zaman di mana tiada apa yang bernilai dan boleh digunakan oleh umat manusia. Maka simpanlah dinar dan dirham (untuk digunakan)"

Hadis dari Musnad Imam Ahmad Ibn Hanbal

anyway, been hooked into gold investment lately. actually dah lama follow and baca blog otai2 gold and forums and biz news on gold, tapi tak join2.

1. the price is at hictoric high. today hits 1300usd/ounce... and is estimated to continue climbing and possible to reach 1500usd/ounce (dok baca online publications about this). selalunya nak invest mesti tengok past record (mutual fund ke, apa ke). look at the 10 year gold price from kitco.com. appreciation averages more than 30% a year!

2. gold ni logam berharga yang tak luput ditelan zaman, difficult to be reproduced (hence cannot be devalued) and always in demand, anytime, anywhere. kalau movie harta karun, mesti pi carik emas. movie macam national treasure, fool's gold,the mummy, etc. majlis kahwin mesti ada emas punya. photog wajib ambil gambar cincin emas bila buat wedding photogpraphy.

3. gold ni cantek. ada 'power' dia sendiri. dia punya kilauan boleh menikam kalbu. pernah pegang 100g bar 24k? pergghh. meromang bulu roma. kalau 1kg? takleh nak bayang.

4. why public gold (pg)?

- certified company. ada register, ada lesen ngan bank negara untuk trading emas.
- easy to get and easy to sell (harga dah fixed kat website). agent dah bersepah2 kat malaysia ni. office diorang pun semakin banyak. if buy bank's product like emas kijang or uob bar, kena jual waktu office hour jer!
- locally produced. dapat anugerah malaysia book of record lagi. support local product!
- the bar will still be acceptable with scratches or dent. very important factor sebab bila gadai kat ar-rahnu, mesti calar punya kena spatula waktu test emas tu.
- can monitor the price online, the price is tied to the world price. changes every 20 minute. bila dah hit harga yg hendak, boleh call dan terus lock harga. bayar lambat sket takpe...
- bila jadi agen public gold, boleh belajar and practice ilmu trading emas.
- pg does not offer any investment scheme. so bukan beli emas dapat fixed income bulan2, bukan mlm, bukan ponzi, bukan apa. just jual beli emas!

sekian terima kasih. sapa2 nak beli or jual emas area kerteh, kemaman, paka, dungun, kota bharu (kl pun boleh) sila bagitau. harga boleh kawtim!

memasuki alam emas...

2010-09-20T19:30:00.009+08:00

gold investment re-ignited!

purchased a 20g gold bar from publicgold using this year's company bonus. been reading about it for quite sometime. cash saving is on track as per target this year, so i'm trying to venture out to other things. mutual fund dah guna epf. nak proceed with new property, harga macam mengarut sangat... so main emas la pulak. kerajaan kelantan pun dah produce dinar and dirham. dengar cerita tak cukup stock ramai sangat orang booking!

side track: hari ni baru belajar guna technique "ctrl + j" function with photoshop, terus apply untuk gambar di atas.

sambung balik: this gold bar i 'pajak' at agro bank kemaman. the benefits:
1. safety. simpan kat rumah kang kena rompak padan muka.
2. verify the specs: the bank will test the weight and purity of the bar.
3. rolling duit laaa.

the bank will charge rm0.60 for every rm100 gold value for 'upah simpan' for period of six months. then they will give back duit pinjaman amounting up to 70% of the gold value, in cash. ikut suka laa nak buat apa ngan duit tu.

in my case:
cost with publicgold = rm2,876
marhun valued by agro bank = rm2,822
pinjaman at 70% = rm1,975
upah simpan 6 bulan = 101.59

so i took the pinjaman, put it back in saving. sapa2 yang pandai bisnes, dalam 6 bulan boleh dapat untung guna duit tu sebagai modal bisnes. then claim laa balik emas tu from the bank. untung dapat, emas pun dapat (harga appreciated lak tu). takpun buat bidding rumah...

after sometime (medium to long term laa), nilai emas naik, then redeem and sell. ada yang extreme and berani tu, amik duit, beli emas, gadai. then ulang balik berkali2... teknik rempit emas ni... hebat2.

takpe, kita start dulu, pelan-pelan kayuh.

do we really make money being landlords?

2010-09-18T13:31:00.006+08:00

yesterday i went to our suriamas apartment. it's been six month since my last visit, wayyy overdue. the main purpose was to pay for maintenance fee. dah six months tak bayar, so i went there well prepared (dah attack atm dulu siap2). bila check with the management office, perrgghhh banyak jugak benda lain kena bayar rupenya. the detail:

1. maintenance fee per month: rm186.75
2. sinking fund per month: rm18.68
3. insurance per year: rm87.80
4. quit rent per year: rm11.60
5. local council assessment tax per year: rm568.80

so the total 'maintenance fee' averaged per month is rm261.61.

this is of course does not include other costs (minor repair, cleaning for every change of tenants, petrol for visits, etc etc).

luckily the rental we received for our suriamas so far can cover these and the monthly mortgage and still give a respectable +ve cash every month.

so for our next purchase, we must bear in mind of the real cost in maintaining an apartment. whether the big initial investment worth the income it can generate (deposit, lawyer fee, repair, renovation, etc) as well as the time and energy put into it.

then i spent some time checking out the common area. it looks better. probably because there was less renovating works ongoing. plus the trees and grasses grown fuller and taller, nampak makin tenang and teduh, making it a nice place to relax. the areas around the pool are kept clean. there's also a launderette, cafeteria, and also a sundry shop. the gym, tennis, playground and multipurpose hall are in good shape too. the parking area are well lit up now compared to a year ago.

this is all a good sign. hope this can continue and improving all the time.

beli apartment neo dapat duit!

2010-09-14T18:00:00.011+08:00

a week before raya i submitted an epf applcation to withdraw some money from account 2, under 'pengeluaran membeli rumah'. up to 20% of the neo damansara apartment can be claimed back (10% of the cost plus the initial deposit paid, which is usually 10%).

the withdrawal procedure is quite simple, just need to prepare some documents related to the property purchased and fill in an application form.

1. ic photocopy
2. sale and purchase agreement
3. loan letter of offer from bank
4. bank statement
5. completed epf form 9c

my first submission was rejected because the bank statement did not have my full name printed. hampeh. plus i did not bring the original loan letter of offer. since the bank did not certified the photocopy upfront, epf team need to see the original letter. same goes to s&p as well.

the lady who entertained my application at the epf office was really nice and helpful though. tak jadi nak marah although kena reject. kan bagus kalau semua customer service officer baik macam dia.

some important points:
1. both the property and loan must be under applicant's name.
2. s&p must be max of 3 years old.
3. all account 2 balance can be withdrawn (minimum withdrawal rm500).
4. application for 2nd property can only be done if the 1st property has change of ownership.

balik2 from kampung, tengok duit dah masuk dalam bank account. memang pantas aaa diorang ni. kpi tiga minggu, seminggu lebih je dah masuk.

masyuuuuuuk.

ini seterusnya akan di channel ke ruang2 pelabuaran yang memberi return more than the usual 5% given by epf.

gotta stay away from golf stores and car custom shops now!!!

aildilfitri 2010

2010-09-14T17:23:00.005+08:00

raya tahun ni kaler purple and brown gelap. satu beli baru, satu recycle. jimat-jimat. bonus tak banyak tahun ni, tak sempat nak rolling.

it was a really nice time spent with wifey. catched up with each other. we both have been super busy and apart from each other (she with her mega project and me with, emmmm, golf?). i think even close friends were surprised to see how 'bujang' and free i was for the past few months. ajak golf main, ajak TT join, ajak jamming pergi, ajak bukak posa beres, ajak qiamullail.... tertido laa pulak...

so to be together for a week, away from work and other stuff, was priceless.

the lemangs, ketupats, rendangs and gulai kambing do not hurt either...

selamat hari raya aildilfitri, maaf zahir batin.

2010 us trip

2010-08-31T16:26:00.036+08:00

spent merdeka day in kerteh. pagi tadi dah kena 9 holes kat kgrp. pancit. after zohor, spent time browsing through photo albums with star world repeats on the background. stumbled upon our us trip pictures. best betul trip ni... jom layan gambar.

1. first time ever in klia golden lounge: the facility was superb. great food, wifi, prayer room, shower, etc. and oh, ada putting room too!

2. boarding time: mas airline. economy class. flight food. best!

3. transit in uk: lepak airport je. my trip partner dah start shopping. signs of things to come!

4. arrived in newark airport, new york: from london, amik british airways. sampai2, kena tahan dengan airport security. ada laa dalam 2 jam went through second level security control. masuk in this small room, filled with all kinds of people. immigrants ada, yg macam gangster pun ada. gila cuak. ada yang tengah gaduh ngan immigration officers. last2 i had an individual interview ngan polis tu. apparently my family name ada dalam their wanted list. dah clarify, 2 min jer habis. nasib baik tak kena bogel. lega but terus bad mood. hence no picture of the airport.
*tips: even passenger in transit needs to go through the passport control (unlike in other countries), so must make sure ample time between the flights, just in case kena masuk bilik kecik tu. ada a few people yg miss transit flight. kesian diorang.

5. our nyc crib: located in 137th street, manhattan. agak dodgy area in the night. tapi ok je bila siang. rented a room in a student house. cosy and murah and the host was super helpful! wifey found this from airbnb.com. dia memang hebat part2 planning trip ni.

6. scenes in times square: memang pure tourist spot la. berjuta2 orang ada. ada gift shops, hard rock cafe, m&ms museum, ripley's, cheesecake and pizza shops, tourist centre, etc, etc, etc.

7. world trade centre: they're building some sort of monument / building over there. there's a building nearby which acts as a small museum to display all things related to the 9/11 unfortunate event. worth a visit.

8. brooklyn bridge: the bottom part is for cars and the upper deck is for people to walk through, or jog, or bike. spring time ni memang cantek la kalau jogging.

9. statue of liberty and ellis island. ada big, famous green figure. semua orang pi tengok. so kita pun pi jugak laa. advisable to go super early in the morning as the ticket line can be very very very long!

10. niagara falls: beautiful scene. memang mahahebat ciptaan Ilahi. air melimpah tak henti2. we drove up to the falls from nyc. rent a dodger. not a bad ride at all. stayed in a few motels along the way.

11. shopping shopping shopping: this trip was 70% shopping, 30% sightseeing. we went to almost all outlets along nyc, new jersey, niagara falls and in between. seriously, guys yang tak suka shop pun sure jadi gila once they've been to these outlets. girls jangan cakap laaa. and then, once back home, sure tak beli dah shirts and pants and shoes and bags at the mall (at least not the same brands). that's how cheap the price was!

12. the end. many more pictures, tapi nak bukak posa dah ni...

one of the most rewarding experience ever. looking forward to our next adventure...

neo: loan agreement completed!

2010-08-28T17:24:00.010+08:00

yesterday met with ambank loan lawyer to complete signing of loan documents. bagus pulak lawyer ni, weekend pun kerja, dah laa orang kelantan. boleh guna lagi for next project. (eh, dah pikir next project? hoho).

as usual, for a new property development with offer of free legal fees, the developer has their own panel of banks.. kroni diorang laa kiranya ni. in neo damansara's case, the choice was either maybank, ambank or rhb.

at last i picked ambank. sebab? longer loan term. plus dia punya processing agak pantas. within a week or so the offer was given to me. on the letter of offer the following items are listed.

1. loan type and value (including mrta cost).
2. loan period. mine was for 480 months. gila lama. pencen pun tak habis bayar.
3. loan rate. blr-1.9%
4. monthly installment value.

so lega that everything is settled. now standby bayar installments (interest portion only) every month until the project is completed.

breaking 90 at kgrp

2010-08-18T23:00:00.005+08:00

before ramadhan hari tu sempat join annual golf amal kgrp tournament. besar gila tournament kali ni. siap ada hadiah hole in one nissan grand livina lagi. pergghh. punya ramai join, ada dua sessions. ada yang tee off pagi, ada yang main belah petang.

somehow hari tu main extra cemerlang pulak. scored 85 gross. first time break ninety. kalau laa main stroke-play format, nett score would be 85-72-24 = 11 under! sure dapat hadiah besar punya!!! tapi apakan daya, the format was stableforth strokeplay. so kiraan dia macam lain sikit. in the end the final score was par golf, handicap 13. dapat laa no 28 (giant voucher rm90). ok la tu. the winner was at 3 under. so takde la jauh sangat.

lepas habis main baru tahu kalau main stableforth, mesti ada birdie, baru boleh main under. banyak2 dapat par pun tara guna. cehhh. takpe, lesson learned for next time around.

public mutual: satu untung, satu rugi!

2010-08-08T21:06:00.011+08:00

last week i repurchased (read: jual balik) public islamic select sector fund (pissf) and public china ittikal fund (pcif). made a pittance on pissf and quite considerable loss on pcif.

it was super easy to do it. i just went to public mutual branch and filled in the repurchase form (complete with the fund's account number). up to three funds can be repurchased using a single form. the payout can be in cheque or direct to bank account (public bank or maybank). once everything is processed successfully, they will send a final transaction receipt. it took about 7 working days for the money to be ready.

pissf: invested RM5k, received RM5,370.
pcif: invested RM2.8K, received RM2.5K.

well, no more mutual funds for me. not cash investment at least!

that being said, not all public mutual funds are at loss, just certain funds. plus probably the purchase timing and the way i handled the funds was not right. tak buat dca, tak switch ke, entahlah. my epf investment on the other hand, i.e. public islamic dividend fund (pidf) and public islamic equity fund (pief) are making a handsome return. hope that the trend continues...

you'll lose some, you'll win some, rite?

neo: s&p dah ready!

2010-07-28T20:08:00.009+08:00

received s&p (sale and purchase agreement) for our neo damansara studio, to be signed and then to return back to the developer for stamping. all together there are four copies; one each for owner, bank, developer and lawyer.

loan application is in progress with ambank.

things are looking up!

layan gambar unit contoh dulu (pakai c902 ni, tak clear sangat)...

beralih angin.

2010-07-26T19:36:00.003+08:00

nak tukar kerja... nak tukar kerja... nak tukar kerja...

let the rumours become true this time!

amin...

maran hill golf course.

2010-07-20T20:26:00.013+08:00

today sultan terengganu bagi cuti. so apa lagi, another golf trip. this time to maran hill golf course. last minute preparation has lead to only two flights jer yang dapat permit from respective approving authority kat rumah. hehehe. soooo thankful that mine is ever so sporting about this. huhu. luv ya darling!

the course is located about 3km from the maran exit off lpt expressway. as the name suggests, the course is........ hilly. naik, turun, naik, turun. letih, nasib baik boleh guna buggy on course. kalau tak, sure pancit. fairway grass are good, few bad patches along the way, but overall, memang best. require highly-accurate driving or else, bola gi kolam or masuk hutan or out of bound! greens there are fast!!! it is so easy to three-putt on all eighteen holes. the only downside would be their bunkers. the sand are super hard. macam batu!

the clubhouse facilities are minimal, basic changing room, surau, etc etc. the reception room also acts as pro-shop, selling basic items like balls, tees, shirts, glove, etc. restaurant food was ok too. cannot complaint too much since they only charged rm65 per person for green fee and buggy (twin sharing). mulah!

boring tulis. layan gambar ajelaa. oh lupa pulak, i scored 96 gross. ok la tu for a first time score. came in second place behind pro latip.

boleh laa plan datang sekali lagi.

rm3k for a neo...

2010-07-20T19:47:00.014+08:00

i could have swiped rm3k on my new credit card for a new callaway x-tour golf set, macam 2010 u.s open winner mcdowell pakai ni...

or spanking new rims for our trusted rio... kesian dia sejak si siti took his place on our driveway...

or a new blackberry / iphone

but finally, got my head straight and proceed to pay booking for a new neo...

oopps, takleh excited sangat, loan tak approve lagi ni! hope that everything will be ok.

read more at neo damansara.

taking a break

2010-07-08T19:16:00.022+08:00

lama betul tak menulis. letih. hidup kacau. been super busy with work for the past three weeks. plant shutdown equals going to work early and coming back around midnight (though not everyday, but still...). nasib baik buat kerja electrical. mostly kerja dalam bangunan substasi. at least ada aircond. heh heh. kesian betul tengok geng2 mechanical and instrument buat kerja dari pagi, tengah hari sampai malam buta. panjat column, cabut valve, buat welding, cuci strainer, masuk vessel. pergghh. memang tabik spring to them. tapi electrical job mencabar gaks. in other ways. just less strain physically jer. still, i'm so thankful...

enough about work. time for a break from it all.

kicked off my mini break with a golf trip to kajang area. oh heaven betul! pagi2 drove from kerteh, arrived with ample time (sempat a few stops for food, lepak2) and got ready for our 2.30pm tee time at kajang hill golf club. easily the best course i've been to so far.

clubhouse facilities are simple, but great. changing room with jacuzzi and sauna. nice. a lot of international patrons. so ada la pulak yang bernaked dalam tu. aduh. mengembalikan kenangan silam waktu main bola and pergi gym kat sheffield dulu. hoho. part yang tak tahan ada gak locals do the same. sengal betul pakcik2 tu.

back to golf. the par-72 course is quite long at 7,148 yards (black tee. kitorang layan blue tee jer), with mixed difficulty levels over the 18 holes, enough to give a real test to 20+ handicappers. i was really impressed on how beautiful their fairways and greens were. only a few holes involve playing across/along pond, which i like! in the end dapat score 94 gross. not bad at all. champion of the day was wynn with 92. tiba2 pulak power mamat ni. he just had a hot day with the putter a.k.a miss rossa. memang terer. pok ning yang kena saman on the way kat highway earlier, stress gila and end up dengan score yg agak tinggi. hohoho. marah dia kat wynn.

total cost was rm135 per person, all in (buggy, insurance, green fee, caddy tak wajib ambik) as well as a japanese dinner for four persons. value for money considering the quality of the course. totally recommended!

the following morning we all teed-off at bukit unggul country club in bangi. this par-71 course memang terunggul dengan bukit-bukau throughout the 18-holes. first hole dah gayat tengok the fairway almost 100m below its tee. big trees or ponds along the fairway, so it requires accurate driving at each holes. kalau bola pergi fairway lain, jangan mengharap laaa. a lot of short par 4s with corners left or right (typical for hilly course). so those who can whack a drive more than 200m, can cut through the corners and left with wedge shot to the green. pok ning can and did. and it really reflected on his score of 85 gross. gila. memang nak kena potong handicap dah budak ni. buaya. i managed a 91. ok la tu.

its clubhouse facilities are good too. tapi takde sauna and jacuzzi la. the restaurant has a lot of food options, but we didn't try sebab nak lunch kat luar. entrance road from the main road to the reception was not really taken care of, nampak macam dah abandoned. which might give a false impression on the condition of the course. fairway grass really great, green banyak yang berpasir though. tengah treatment kot. total cost was rm95 per person for green fee, buggy twin sharing, caddy fee and insurance.

pueh hati betul main.. ok pasni kena kerja pulak.. bulan 8 ada plant shutdown lagi!

happy birthday

2010-06-30T22:43:00.010+08:00

happy birthday babeh.

macam biasa, takde tempat menarik nak celebrate kat kerteh ni. mm hari2 pun pergi, dah biasa sangat. plus both are busy with work now, nak buat quick getaway pun takleh nak celah. sayang company punya pasal. last2 pi dinner kat awana. hadiah pulak kali ni wat lain sket. bagi cash dalam buku biru...

layan gambar lama kat italy...

i love u. always and forever...

kopetro 2009 dividend

2010-06-05T19:46:00.004+08:00

kopetro has declared dividends for financial year ending 31st december 2009. the payout will be calculated based on balance at 30th June 2009.

dividend on savings : 8%
dividend on share: 10%
dividend on special savings: 2%

slightly higher than asb, macam tahun2 lepas gak (8.5% in 2008 and 10% in 2007).

so maintain je laa deduction bulan tu...

alif and fiza wedding 2010

2010-05-23T20:18:00.012+08:00

congratulations to alif and fiza. also to ayah sir and che yah for the lovely ceremony at jerteh, terengganu.

daging gulai kawah was deliciouso! teringat sampai sekarang.

all pics were taken using the newly bought 17-50mm tamron lense, plus simple editing using picasa3 software. layannnn...

p/s: pengantin2 lama pun nak amik gambar gaks...

tamron lense 17-50mm review: very very cool!

2010-05-12T18:58:00.020+08:00

got myself a new lense a week ago. tamron 17-50mm, f2.8, with vc (vibration control). rm1.9k at amcorp mall pj. keep telling myself that it is for self reward sempena naik pangkat, just to justify the price tag. i found it to be very useful, since it can covers potraiture, scenery, group picture, etc etc.

since the purchase, i've been snapping pictures a lot! gi shopping mall snap pictures, pi kerja amek gambar, main basketball bawak d90, even tengah buat f.a.t pun layan camera. sifu pun bawak camera dia ke mana2, so kena follow laa... baru cepat pandai.

jom layan gambar...

f.a.t setup: f3.5, 1/100s, iso1600.

basketball in kerteh: f2.8, 1/2500s, iso1600.

beach runner: f2.8, 1/100s, iso1250.

pyramid cameramen: f2.8, 1/200s, iso1250.

nyonya restaurant puchong: f2.8, 1/100s, iso500.

my callaway x16: f3.5, 1/250s, iso600.

dapat handicap card!

2010-05-11T17:00:00.007+08:00

lama gila tunggu nak dapat handicap card. after 5 months, dapat gak card ni akhirnya. currently official handicap is.... 25.

i took the test back in december last year. there was a paper-test consists of 40 multiple choice questions on rules of golf. susah gila. ielts paper waktu nak gi uk dulu lagi senang! then masuk padang for a course-test, which was done mainly to assess understanding of the rules and etiquette on the golf course, rather than the way i swing the club. after a round of golf with the tester, handicap is given based on the score and overall course management.

bestnya bila dah dapat main handicap 18 nanti... sure kurang bola masuk kolam!

public mutual unit trust untung lebih 100%!!!

2010-05-01T11:00:00.014+08:00

lama dah tak usya unit trust status ngan public mutual. apa khabarnya ekk? ada yang kata rugi invest dalam unit trust, ada yang kata untung. mmmm. mari kita lihat siapa yang kena. first, start ngan cash investment:

piof: 106% appreciation within 5 and a half years. masyuuukkk! tapi lima tahun lepas gaji kecik, so invest sikit ajer...

pissf: 8% appreciation within 3 and a half years. tak berapa nak masyuk. target nak simpan 2 tahun lagi...

pcif: -20% within 3 years. hampehhh. nasib baik laa untuk fund ni initial investment tak tinggi and kitorang top up gak bulan2 waktu harga dia jatuh. so effectively takde laa loss sampai 20%.

now investment using epf money pulak. epf return was 5.6% for 2009 and 4.5% for 2008. so kalau public fund boleh bagi higher return, memang bagussss.

pidf: 10% within 7 month. menarikkkkk!

pief: 22% within 1 year & 10 months . woohoo!

overall, invest dalam unit trust memang ok for long term, at least 5 tahun. kena sabar je la. tapi sekarang since tengah focus kat asb-od nie, i am utilising my epf fund je. cash tu lagi best pusing kat lain!

Summary (based on price as 30/4/10):

PIOF : RM1.0k : 5,672.37 units @ RM0.3365 (RM1,908) : 90% in 5.5 years.
PISSF: RM5.0k : 19,342.25 units @ RM0.2647 (RM5,119) : 2.4% in 3.5 years.
PCIF : RM2.8k : 13,456.31 units @ RM0.1947 (RM2,619) : -6.5% in 3 years.
PIEF : RM2.5k : 9,084.46 units @ RM0.3266 (RM2,966) : 18.7% in 1.8 years.
PIDF : RM4.0k : 13,304.20 units @ RM 0.3212 (RM4,273) : 6.8% in 7 months.

naik pangkat.... finally!

2010-04-25T00:21:00.006+08:00

five and a half year of working, meeting, learning, travelling, yelling, training and ass-kissing finally paid off...

tunggu dulu laaa...

2010-04-18T21:02:00.012+08:00

when the market is going down:

"takut laa nak invest sekarang, market tengah down, nanti tak naik harga unit trust/emas/rumah tu, buat rugi je invest. tunggu dulu laaa..."

when the market is going up:

"harga dah mahal, boleh naik lagi ke? tak nak la invest, rugi nanti. berapa sen sangat untung lagipun. tunggu dulu laaa..."

then, 5 years down the road:

"nyesal betul aku tak beli rumah kat wangsa maju tu. sekarang harga dah dekat setengah juta woo!"

"waahh, best betul piof return 100% lebih. apasal laa aku tak letak sikit duit bonus aku dulu"

"pandai betul si ali tu rollling duit dia. keta habis bayar, rumah ada 4 bijik. layannnn..."

"tup tap tup tap dah 5 tahun aku menyewa kat kerteh ni, dah tiga kali pindah pun. apsal laa tak beli je rumah sini dulu?"

these conversations sound so familiar. the market go up and down, and up and down again. yet we continue to sit still, waiting for that golden basket to drop on our lap while others who took action had managed to gain something for their effort.

imagine waking up every morning to do things we love like golfing / facebooking / d90-ing / watching chels*x losing a game / etc etc all day long, without worrying about money.

that would be nice, eh?

azman and asmaa wedding.

2010-04-10T15:27:00.008+08:00

pics from azman and asmaa wedding back in february... unedited version:

kontraktor melayu...

2010-04-10T14:42:00.008+08:00

kontraktor melayu. cepat lupa daratan. dapat satu projek terus beli bmw. this unflattering term is also used in golf, especially among beginners, to describe a situation where one player has scored a par or a birdie on one hole, then he/she makes super high number on the very next hole!!!

it happened to me today at KGRP's latest monthly tournament, big time! after getting a birdie on second hole, i put in an embarassing 8-10-4-9-9 run. 19 strokes over par in five holes! it totally ruined my day. an outward-nine score of 58. hampeh! i then shot 51 on back nine, making a total of 109!

macam budak baru main golf aje, nasib baik ada 3-4 first timers tadi. kalau tak........

and the OD adventure begins...

2010-03-29T19:51:00.004+08:00

finally, after waiting for more than one month and countless follow-ups with CIMB bank, my OD (OverDraft) money is available in the account, ready to be utilised!!!

i kicked-off my od-asb journey last month. after hearing so many amazing stories of people getting their personal finance in order and being rich using this technique, i finally decided to give it a go. so far i have five friends who had actually started, some of which already seen the effect within four months of doing it. cerita kawan atas kawan atas kawan tu tak kira laaa. setakat cakap kosong sumer orang boleh buat. hahaha.

over-draft is a facility given by a bank for us to 'over-withdraw' money from our account. this facility is useful due to the fact that the interest charged is low and it is on daily rest (at blr-1.65%, it is super low compared to credit card's at 18% annually!). to get this facility, a collateral is needed, the most common is asb certificate, hence the term od-asb!

the first task was to get the od money available in my account. i chose cimb bank because the branch is close by, plus i already have an account with them. but the pros will advice to use rhb bank, the main reason being higher margin (95% of collateral value compared to 90% offered by cimb). i went through the following steps to get the od facility at cimb.

0. save some money in asb account. this can be from monthly savings or else, apply personal loan and put the money in asb.
1. convert asb money into certificate at any pnb office. rm10 fee has to be paid per certificate. the certificate must be in multiple of thousands. so tak boleh laa nak convert rm10200. for cimb, minimum value for an application is rm10k. less than that, bank tak layannnnn... this step took less than 10 min (waiting time in queue excluded).
2. surrender the certificate to cimb. fill in od application form, current account set up form (because the od uses current instead of saving account), and a few other forms. pay rm160 for the processing fee.
3. wait to sign letter of offer from the bank. then sign the letter of offer. the letter took two weeks.
4. wait for money to be available in the current account. cimb will also give a cheque book too for our usage. normally two to three weeks is required. but in my case it was five weeks!!! sabar je laa.

once the money is available, od-asb cycle begins. macamana nak buat? apa faedahnya? entah laa labu. tak berani nak citer selagi tak try sendiri. but as i go along, will try to update as much as possible. insyaallah!

od-asb fun facts.

1. the interest is charged daily. example:
withdraw 10k for 1 day at blr-1.65% = 5.5-1.65 = 3.95%
the interest will be = 3.95% x 10k x 1/365days = rm1.08 per day.
for a year, the interest will be rm395 jer... murah tu!

2. lazy technique: withdraw rm10k, put in asb at the start of the year. assume dividend 8%, we will get rm800. minus the rm395 for the od interest, we'll get rm415 for free!

3. use the od money to pay off personal loan, credit card, car loan, etc. savings in terms of difference in interest charged.

4. roll the od money to do business, as capital to purchase something and sell it at higher price. so we don't need to use our asb saving as capital. dividend asb still jalan, modal business pun ada!

5. the advance technique involves additional usage of credit cards. the idea is to maximise spending on the "free" money offered by cards, at the same time reducing the interest charged by the od. complex wooo! tapi dah ramai yang berjaya. micro-managing your money. a lot of steps involved. but that's story for another day....

sapa2 yang banyak hutang and tak nak pikir banyak, pecah kepala, terikut ajaran sesat, can go to otai od at azizcfpx.com. attend his seminar and he will give detail, personalised guideline. all we need to do is to follow the instructions given. i want to try on my own first. it this does not work out, i will definitely give him a try.

my initial target now is to use this facility to save 45% of my take home pay every month, and i'm giving myself a six month window to do this. harap2 berjaya laa hendaknya. will definitely update the process later once i get better at it.

go od-asb!

*for more reading material, just google "od asb credit card". tons of articles on this matter.

sticky album dah siap!

2010-03-28T07:51:00.007+08:00

we're back in malaysia after a great trip to the states. so much to catch up (biasalaaa, tinggalkan dunia realiti selama dua minggu, inilah akibatnya). first on the list is to finish off the wedding album for our first client. huhu. kesian dia lama tunggu album tak siap2. the timing was off. been busy with stuff at work and then the us trip. nak buat camner...

anyway, the sticky album is now ready. the cover is simple, but i like it and hopefully so will the client.

next, will be submitting photos for the custom album, hopefully by next weekend. insyaallah. only 2 pages left to be edited. one more late night of editing should do it.

rindunyaaaa nak bermain2 dengan d90!!!

it's New York babeh!

2010-03-15T20:50:00.007+08:00

after 20 hours of flying, three airports, five flight meals, we are finally here in New York City!

time to relax, shop, eat and sightseeing.

life is good.

tabung haji dividen 2009

2010-03-02T00:36:00.004+08:00

tabung haji declared a 5% bonus for financial year ending 2009. today wifey update the book. considering the global financial crisis that we had, this bonus is quite ok for me. alhamdulillah, masuk gak laa sikit2. we put aside some money in tabung haji for the sole purpose to perform hajj later on in our life. tapi takde laa banyak sangat. estimate dapat laa gi naik haji bila dah masuk 40's nanti, insyaallah. simpan sikit2, lama2 jadi bukit.

terima kasih brader tabung haji yang invest duit kami dengan baik dan menguruskan orang2 menyempurnakan ibadat di mekah. moga2 tahun depan dapat bonus yang lagi mantap. amin!

goal!!!

2010-03-02T00:13:00.004+08:00

man utd won the carling cup again this year, beating aston villa 2-1. the game was boring though. still, a win's a win. some would say that this is a 'second tier' competition, with teams giving more focus on premier league and champions league games.

oh how much benitez, wenger and the gang would give to be at wembley, lifting that small cup eh?

now for another epl title and champions league final...

glory glory man utd!

golf tournament at awana

2010-02-20T15:02:00.008+08:00

mmmm. dusty blog. it was a long hiatus due to super pack schedule for the past two weeks. work (read: ppa), futsal tournament, golf, asb-od, suriamas and photography. all with their own unique story. let's start with golf first. this morning a few friends and i joined a golf tournament at awana.

weather was good. green and fairway were ok. so there was really no reason to blame for the 102 total strokes (par 72 course). guess i am just not good enough. yet.

score card... dapat laa jugak 3 pars. but since the game format today was stableforth (system 36), so kira points laa instead of stroke. as i understand it, the way they calculated is like this: for every hole, 3 points is given for a par, 2 points for a bogey and 1 point for a double-bogey. furthermore, one additional point is given for every low index hole (i.e lubang susah). for a 24-handicapper, i get an additional point for holes with index 1-6 (24-18 = 6). i found the calculation is complicated at first, but becomes easier the more tournaments i joined. so much so that now, before teeing off dah mark awal2 lubang low index ni, make sure score bagus at these holes. dapat extra point. that's the key.

in the end, i got 29 points. satu point jer beza ngan tempat ke 5. kalau tak, mesti dapat voucher parkson yang agak masyukkk.

oh, lupa pulak.. today i discovered that i can put in a 200m drive (againts the wind lagi, hohoho). brader yang menang longest drive was at 216m. so i guess takde laa teruk sangat in the driving department.

as it is, short game is still my achilles heel...

merdeka!!!

2010-01-26T12:29:00.006+08:00

alhamdulillah, assessment dah habis!!! but the assessor tak bagitau laa pulak black and white dah lulus ke belum. anyhow, it's already in the past, nothing i can do about it now, eh? tawakkal and doa je la... probably the official resulf will be published later in feb / march. let's hope for the best. as for now, no more studying! (not exclusively, at least).

soooo much were put on hold for this assessment. work is piling up, so gotta settle those. kia rio needs servicing (replace bearing, wiper, etc). on the money making front, need to settle the new contract for our suriamas apartment, wanna sell the gold bar (ada sapa2 nak beli? murah beb nak jual ni...), then take out money from epf to put in unit trust (and asw2020), and finally try asb-od for the first time this year. plan to settle all this before our march trip. cannot wait for that one too!

opss lupa lak. it's been a while dah tak main golf. tangan dah gatal2 ni...

only one azam this year.

LIVE MORE!!!!!

10 days to go

2010-01-17T18:27:00.010+08:00

after two posponements, only 10 days left before my acd assessment. i'm shutting down from all activities and focusing solely for the interview.

still, i had a last hoorrah last weekend by golfing with office buddies aka geng2 cap ayam. i brought along d90 to awana course. photography and golf combined: not bad at all!!!

i was busy snapping pictures along the 18-hole course, while trying to play my best golf. i blamed the wind (and my partner, hahahaha. just kidding!) for the 101 total strokes. aduhs...

p/s: the guys didn't fare that well either! gaya je lebih.

score card..

jauhnyer... kena pokok!

gaya macam pro... tapi masuk kolam!

habis bola bang?

kwsp

2010-01-15T01:07:00.022+08:00

mmm, suddenly got a feeling of writing about epf (employee provident fund) aka kwsp. to the majority of us non-government workers, this is our main (in some cases, only) fund dedicated to save money for our post-retirement life. it is a statutory saving plan, where both employee and employer paid a certain amount into the fund every month. in my case, 11% is deducted from my salary, whilst the company top up a further 15% into the coffin.

kwsp is the body responsible in managing the fund, and invests it into channels that would give areasonable return to its contributors. averaging 5% dividend annually, some would say it a bit on the low end. so i've been learning to fully utilise it to ensure a more handsome return. i've got an online epf account, which is really helpful since i can monitor the savings as well as know what my withdrawal limits are, macam kat bawah nie.

1. put into unit trust.
epf divided the money into account 1 and account 2 on 70/30 ratio. account 1 is meant for use after retirement (hence the larger portion), and account 2 is for other usage along the way (medical, buying a house, education, etc). however a few years back epf has allowed us to withdraw money from account 1 and invest it on several approved unit trusts, including funds from dear pnb and public mutual. i put some in public mutual's PIEF a year back and more recently in PIDF. Memang untung beb! Tengok return since i bought each fund macam kat bawah ni. My target is to sell back the units once I get 30-40% return within 3-4 years.

pief: 18.24% appreciation within 17 months (aug 2008 - jan 2010)

pidf 6.13% appreciation within 4 months (sept 2009 to jan 2010)

2. buy a house (or two).
i have a special interest in property. Niat dihati nak ada 2-3 apartments. the rental income(s) from property purchased by epf money can, if done properly, give a better return as compared to leaving the money in there. plus epf gives the cash to our personal account, hence we have options to invest it somewhere else (with higher return, of course).

epf withdrawal options:

a. to purchase a house.
we can withdraw all money in our account 2 for this purpose. all we need to do is to fill in form 9(c) and the money will be paid into our personal account within 1-2 weeks. i've never used this option before, but might use it to purchase second apartment later. my understanding is that we can apply up to 10% of the purchase value, plus refund on the deposit that we have paid to reserve the property. this cash can then be used either to reduce the loan taken or channel it to other things (nak downpayment beli keta pun boleh, hahaha).

b. to reduce/settle loan amount.
similar to above, all balance in account 2 can be used (using the same form 9c). the key is that the money must be taken out within 3 years of the date of purchase. we missed this window with our suriamas apartment. another important point is that for this option, the money will be paid to the bank's (lender) account, not to our personal account, therefore we cannot use the cash for other purposes (invest in asb ke, gold ke, apa2 ke). on the bright side, we can reduce the loan amount. for those who are brave and creatif tu, after they reduce the loan, they will apply for refinance (lower rate or longer term), dapat balik cash after the refinance process. invest laa kat tempat lain pulak. hebat2.

c. cash to settle monthly installment.
we also have this option, and the beauty is that money is paid to our personal account. heh heh (tanduk dah naik). minimum withrawal is rm100 per month, up to max amount limited by monthly repayment of that loan. the minimum timezone is 6 months. the excess cash that we saved after using this option then can be put higher return funds (or to pay outstanding personal loans / credit card debts with higher interest rate).

however, i must be diciplined enough and ensure that whenever i pull out money from epf, that money will work harder, or else i better leave it there. 5% a year is actually not bad at all!!!

geram

2010-01-12T23:00:00.004+08:00

aaaaaarrrgggggggggggggghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!

apasal tak dapat nak tukar position? dah lima tahun lebih buat maintenance, nak la merasa buat kerja lain pulak!!!!

kemasek land update!

2010-01-06T21:23:00.004+08:00

alhamdulillah, our kemasek land project finally gave a positive progress. last week i went to our lawyer's office in dungun to collect a copy of geran tanah. this is a shared geran, which contains details on the location of the land and list of the lot owners on that piece of land (name, ic number and addresss). in our case, the land is divided into 24 lots, 650m2 each lot. we purchased one lot and put wifey's name as the owner.

unfortunately, they mispelled wifey's name laa pulak. nor julaida. ada ke patut? slack betul. tak sure whether the lawyer's office salah submit ke, or pejabat tanah salah typo. tak pasal2 we need to go to pejabat tanah and ask them to change the name. sure kena bayar lagi ni. but based on the lawyer, he will settle this during the issuance of individual geran for each lot later. harap2 betul laa.

although it is a shared geran, from what i understand it is still a legal document. siap ada tulis pemilikan selama-lamanya lagi. heh heh. so it can be used to apply for for loan ke, nak buat rumah ke atas lot tu ke, etc. we can even sell our lot to other people.

anyone interested to buy a kemasek lot? dekat dengan mesra mall tu...

new year party and jue & han wedding: episode

2010-01-04T18:31:00.011+08:00

had my first taste of photography inside a hall for a new year party at istana hotel, kl. struggled for almost an hour to find the correct setting on my d90, until a phone call from niceidea saved the day. thanks beb. managed to take some pics, but definitely need to spend more manhours on this!

then off to wedding reception of jue & han at ampang. dapat laa dua tiga keping yang amat berpuas hati. wifey pun sempat jadi kakak andam...

happy new year 2010! may it be a great year for everyone!

8 years later...

2009-12-23T19:43:00.007+08:00

we are still madly in love with each other.

happy 8th anniversary!

-hubby-

suriamas: episode 2

2009-12-20T15:18:00.027+08:00

i just finished talking to our suriamas tenants about a new rental contract. it's almost one year since we've rented out the unit and it's time to negotiate a new contract! they have been great as tenants, keeping the apartment squeaky clean, and of course, prompt rental each month.

anyway, they requested to reduce the rent from rm1.9k to around rm1.7k. quite a lot, isn't it? but, considering the hassle of getting new tenants and how good our existing ones have been, we're willing to reduce the rent, but still want to make similar return as what we've enjoyed before. after discussion with the tenants, both sides agreed that we won't be using the agent service for the next contract. this has lead to substantial saving in agent's fee (equivalent of one month rent), therefore we could afford to reduce the rent. we finally come to an agreement of rm1750 per month rent.

for old contract period:
rm1900 x 12 months - rm1900 (agent's fee) = rm20,900.

for new contract period:
rm1750 x 12 months - 0 (no agent's fee) = rm21,000.

win win situation, eh? tenants are happy with reduced rent, we are happy with similar returns and good tenants. the only downside is that now we have to draw up new contract ourselves and get it stamped.

hopefully our suriamas project will go well for another year. who knows, another trip to u.s might be on the horizon...

insyaallah!

8.55% for 2009

2009-12-15T07:27:00.004+08:00

pnb has declared asb dividend payout for 2009:

dividend: 7.3%
bonus: 1.25%

dividend given this year is slightly higher than the 7.0% payout in 2008.

nice!

d90 photoshoot: julaiha & han wedding 2009

2009-12-08T10:35:00.016+08:00

congrats to dek a and han on your marriage last weekend. it was a wonderful occasion and may both of you have great years together!

i finally get a taste of full day experience of a wedding photoshoot by tagging along dek a's official photographers from myklikers. they were really helpful! so there i was, with my newly acquired sb900 flash and a tamron lense borrowed from niceidea (budget takde, hehe), clicking my way through the akad, sanding, indoor and outdoor sessions.

need to get my hand onto photo editing after this...

full set available at facebook. official photos at myklikers website.

p/s: bila nak belanja unofficial photographer ni?

two down, five to go!

2009-11-16T22:17:00.008+08:00

been consumed with upgrading assessment preparation lately. actually, just went into full throttle last weekend, exactly 30 days to that magical date... 14th dec 2009!

i wanted to pass the assessment so much... more money (of course, what else right?) and also better respect at the workplace. being senior engineer, your opinions count more. cakap pun laku laa sikit. even goreng2 sket (or banyak, in some cases) pun takpe, orang percaya... hahaha. plus most of my close friends dah upgrade. pressure beb!

there'll also be more oppurtunities to transfer to other places (read: klcc).

seven topics to cover, two already completed:

variable speed drive, integrated motor control system, switchgear, ex-equipment & hazardous classification, power quality, digital communication, power system studies.

ya allah, permudahkan laa assessment hambamu ini (dan juga assessment kawan2 yang lain). moga2 segala usaha diberkati dan sukses waktu interview nanti... amin.

futsal nite

2009-11-03T19:37:00.007+08:00

tuesday is futsal nite! luckily mesra mall has its own sportsplanet futsal, so i don't have to go all the way to paka to play. dulu2 nak main kena gi paka, malas nak drive back and forth malam2. these are some pics of the guys enjoying the beautiful game, while at the same time keeping the body fit and the tummy flat...

but normally after the game we would go for late supper of roti canai or nan with gulai kambing. macamana tu???

new ride

2009-10-30T14:22:00.029+08:00

been thinking about a new ride lately... wifey pun sama-sama join. hahaha. with a lot of new cars on offer now, we are spoilt for choices. i am not really into the technical side of the car. so long it looks nice and gives good drive.

yang mana satu... idaman kalbu... here we go! (specs and pics googled).

the sporty sedan...

honda civic 2.0: the number one choice amongst young adults. bersepah kat kerteh ni. kat kl jangan citer la. huhu. highly recommended by owner friends. complete features with very nice cabin condition. rm130k.
Specs: 1,998cc, 4-cylinder; 16 valves; Chain Driven; DOHC i-VTEC, Bore & Stroke (mm) 86.0 x 86.0.
Power: 155 (114kW) @ 6,500rpm , Torque: 188Nm (19.2) @ 4,500rpm .

mitsubishi lancer 2.0: ada laa tiga empat bijik kat kerteh ni. very very nice bodyworks, but people seem to think that the interior is too simple. rm125k.
Specs: 1,998 cc, 2.0 liters in-line 4 front engine with 86.0 mm bore, 86.0 mm stroke, 10.0 compression ratio, double overhead cam, variable valve timing/camshaft and four valves per cylinder 4B11.
Power: 113 kW , 152 HP SAE @ 6,000 rpm; 146 ft lb , 198 Nm @ 4,250 rpm.

caldina gt4 turbo: what can i say. been in love with the car for quite sometime. the only downside is that only recond models are available, and also concerns on the maintenance and spare parts. rm150k.
Specs: 1998cc, Serial 4 cylinder DOHC16 valve turbo, 86mm bore, 86mm stroke,EFI (electronic fuel injection).
Power: 260 ps (191.23 kw) / 6200 rpm, torque: 33.0 kg*m (323.62 N*m) / 4400 rpm.

the family mpv...
betul ke nak pakai mpv ni? entah laa labu. anyway kita consider je laaa.

honda stream: 7 seater, rm156k.

Specs: 7 seater, 1,799cc, 4 Cylinder 16 Valve SOHC i-VTEC, PGM-FI (Programmed Fuel Injection), 5-Speed Automatic.
Power PS (kW)/rpm : 140 (103)/6,300, Torque Nm (kg-m)/rpm : 174 (17.7)/4,300.

the hybrids
we both did research about electric motor application on hybrid car as part of our final year project back in sheffield. so we have soft spot for hybrid cars. plus it's good for the environment.

honda civic hybrid:
looks similar to the standard 1.8 model. interior pun lebey kureng. tapi engine 1.4cc je ni, larat ke nak tarik body keta yang besar tu? entah laa. rm130k.
Specs: 4 Cylinder, SOHC i-VTEC + IMA, PGM-FI (Programmed Fuel Injection), Continuously Variable Transmission (CVT).
Engine Power: 95 (70)/6,000, Engine Torque: 123 (12.5)/4,600.
Motor Power: 20 (15)/2,000, Motor Torque: 103 (10.5)/0 - 1,160.

the unthinkables...
these are the cars that suit the mind, but do not suit the wallet (for now at least). but no harm in dreaming and drooling, eh? all three of them cost rm200k and above.

civic type r

golf gti

bmw 3 series

haaa, before putting our hands onto the new steering wheel, both kena upgrade to senior engineer dulu laa. baru gagah nak bayar installment tu. hahahaha. insyaallah by next year. amin...

p/s: baru laa tak kena tinggal kalau konvoi gi mana-mana!

d90 photoshoot: nik & bos wedding 2009

2009-10-18T10:17:00.009+08:00

we went to nik and bos wedding in pasir mas, kelantan. i had my first ever wedding photoshoot with d90. selamba je join geng photographers yang dah pro kat wedding ni. banyak juga belajar cara diorang snap pics, especially angle-angle yang mantap. best bawak camera, dapat full access during the event. berdiri sekaki in front of the bride and groom pun tak kena marah, even bilik pengantin pun dapat masuk. hahahaha. tapi takde gambar best dalam bilik sebab takde camera flash. guna built-in flash ni tak best sangat... so nanti nak kena beli flash pulak.

location: kg chicha, pasir mas, kelantan
event: nik and bos wedding
gadgets: d90, 10-20mm, 70-300mm

congratulations to nik and bos. semoga kekal ke akhir hayat...

my pics of the day...

d90 photoshoot: kuala kemaman

2009-10-10T06:32:00.011+08:00

wifey bought nikon d90 earlier this week and we went for our first ever outdoor photoshoot. and i'm getting hooked by photography by the day! thanks babe for making this happen. love you lots!

location: kuala kemaman (6.30pm)
shooters: juri, lotfi, ah chong
models: jun, wawa, hana.
gadgets: nikon d90, lense 10-20mm

malas

2009-10-07T21:28:00.003+08:00

assessment dah dekat, nak kena study. malasnyer!!! geng-geng study group dulu semua dah lepas, takde geng dah tahun ni.

raya lagi..

2009-10-04T18:43:00.014+08:00

raya gathering @ muhibbah restaurant ttdi, with ex-kmys collegemates 1998-2000. some of with we hadn't seen since then. it's nice to meet and catch up with everyone.