Wednesday, October 28, 2009

Financially comfortable Part 1 - Cashflow

Haip, semangat lak cerita hal financial kan.
 
Standard la, tengah baca Ke Mana Wang Anda - Hjh Rohani Datuk Mohd Shahir. One of the best personal financial book I ever read (macam lah banyak financial book i've read kan), not only rhetoric but most of her recommendation are practical and realistic.
 
First thing first, I memang tak faham orang yang suka berhutang.Adakah sebab it is the `in' thing? Or you want to spend more than you earn? Bukankah the ground rule is, to spend only what you have in your bank rimau(hanya contoh, boleh juga guna binatang lain). For housing loan and vehicle loan tu lain cerita la. But still, in this book Puan Hajah kita suggested if you earn RM3000 per month, your ideal monthly installment should be around RM350 to get yourself `financially comfortable'.Tapi come on la get real, MyVi pun installment dalam RM500-RM600 permonth, ni yg standard average ye, 5-7 years loan and moderate down payment. Still, personally I consider it quite comfortable. But what if we get a sedan car that is more trendy and luxurious with monthly installment up to RM900/month? I leave this question for you to decide.
 
That only touch on the hutang yg perlu (vehicle and housing loan).Belum cerita hutang yang kurang perlu (eleh nak sedapkan hati) dan tak perlu.Just look at our credit card balance monthly and think. Are you financially comfortable or not?
 
I myself had started to list down my cashflow every month, starting this year (sebab sebenar adalah perlu start saving utk kahwin-oops).But I am the type yang tak boleh buat benda too details ni, nanti I pening. Sebab tu I memang tak pernah jadi bendahari kat mana-mana even sekolah mahupun universiti.Kerja2 bendahari serah kat my roomate. Hahah iklan jap promosi u, Ami:P OK berbalik cerita my monthly cashflow, mine was quite simple. I did not even detail down my expenses monthly, just sum up and become-`perbelanjaan harian'.I am using blank excel spreadsheet with currently three main tabs:
 
expenses-perbelanjaan harian(termasuk sewa rumah),daily travelling,groceries etc
social obligation-fund,bagi duit kat parents,belanja orang,derma,zakat etc (ni penting ni, sebab boleh mengingatkan diri kalau sebulan    tu tengok you tak contribute langsung kat orang.penting utk keberkatan dan sharing with others:)
kahwin-ni pepandai la, tak perlu detail kot
 
..and each tabs' activities are tracked monthly.How did i do it? Easy.Print/copy paste the transaction details from the online banking platform.Tapi betullah, perlukan disiplin dan keazaman yang tinggi.Once I didn't track my expenses almost for 4 months and had a hard time tracking everything back from the transaction history.But seriously, you have to start documenting all your expenses to be in control of your financial (instead of vice versa). This also serves as an alarm in case you are over spending and found that one month you spend too much than the others.Puan Hajah pun cakap! :)
 
Sebelum itu..do you realize what is missing in my cashflow? DUIT MASUK. Hahaa sepatutnya you have to include this too especially when you have more than one source of income. Tapi since I just makan gaji je I did not actually track it... :)
 
OK ni baru one part, there are a lot more.The answer of our most common inquiries on personal financial, e.g. Macam mana menguruskan kad kredit, Macam mana nak jana ekonomi rumah tangga, Cara nak mengelak berhutang..banyak lagi insya Allah you can find, at least the hints and guidance towards the real answer.  Kalau rajin I will continue more in the future (tapi biasalah I ni janji je pastu tak bukak blog sebulan:P). The best part is... in every chapter Puan Hajah tak pernah tinggal menerapkan unsur-unsur keTuhanan, contoh kena bertaubat kalau dah sedar banyak sangat berhutang, banyak doa kepada Allah supaya kita istiqamah.. macam tu la. Best!
 
Hopefully I can manage Part2, Part3 and seterusnya.. :)
 
Happy planning :)

Tuesday, October 27, 2009

Career Conflict - Part 2 ke 3 tah?

I really can't escape this career conflict.
Even after I finished my brief plant attachment, I still can't make up my mind (of course, it is only a freaking short period!).
At one time I am ready to give up everything to start a family.
But, who, on earth ask you to give up EVERYTHING just to start a family?
And owh, I think I should become a field engineer just because I can't stand looking at the computer screen 8-5.
May a very dumb reason helps me to decide?
And how many successful people are successful because they follow their heart, and not their degree?
A LOT.
How can I determine and believe that there is a greener pasture on the other side?
Once I asked my Mum, " Can't I get everything I want in this world?"
" OF COURSE you can't"- a stereotype answer I received.
 
I am a planner by heart and this uncertainty is killing me.
 
 
(sekian babbles di petang hari.)

Tuesday, October 20, 2009

Happy 1st birthday :)

Hazim turns 1 today:)
 
As to date, he is
 
-very active!!
-plays alot, refuse to sleep during the day
-loves making weird noise
-loves listening to nursery rhymes
-expert in gliding
-can climb up and down a sofa safely
-can crawl up the stairs tapi tak reti turun lagi
-only has 1 tooth (1 on the way)
-still can't walk(standard lah tu, the family history-all my 3 siblings only can walk after 1 year 2 months..:P)
 
Aunty still wondering what to get you for your birthday...hmmm :)
 
May you be a soleh kid and be blessed and loved always :)

Thursday, October 15, 2009

Saya di mana?

Salam and good day,
 
I did not abandon this blog intentionally. I just strayed away to have a peace of mind, besides my hectic schedule since after raya until now. And also, my blogroll feeds doesn't help at all (read:most of my buddies do not frequently update their blogs.Haha kecuali akak Bijou yg tetiba rajin dan menulis bahasa Melayu pula tu.Akak, it sounds weird, honestly:P)...until, when I realize that I had seldom practice my writing skills. (Eleh macamlah skillful sangat:P) The problem I always faced while opening the blogger.com site makes matter worse. Thus, only recently I activate my blogging via email feature (Why only recently?? Admit jelah malas kan). So next time, remind me of this post whenever I am lazy to update yea.
 
Where to start? Besides attending my good friends wedding three weeks in a row, and helped to prepare some of their hantaran,doorgifts and last minute wedding preparation (which is not usual for me, I must admit. I am creative (ceh perasan) but NOT in that sort of way), I felt blessed to being able to catch up with old and new friends and share latest stories on ourselves.Also to witness three solemnization and being there and heard most of the words, well you can't help but shivered. Those were moments of tears too for some, especially in one when I saw the groom shed a tear instead of the bride when he kissed his mother's hand. Well, weddings were such a beautiful occasion, and being in one is also such a beautiful experience (especially, when you are surrounded by your good friends in each). Also in these weddings that I met my old friends who happens to admit that they actually follow my blog quite frequently. Wahh hahaaa serious ke blog cam gini ade peminat :P Mekasih u alls!
 
OK that's all for now. I need sometime to regain my momentum to produce more lengthy post due to lack of creative writing these days. Oh, I read a few books these days and will share with you guys later,insya Allah. Some spoiler for your guys out there: Ketupat CInta-Musim Pertama(FT) is super cool!! Provided you are an avid lover of history, current issues, satire and politics-I filled all the criteria mentioned!, Maaf dari Sorga (FT) is just a simple novel yang sesuai untuk budak2 sekolah but full of peringatan indeed, Life is an Open Secret(Zabrina A.B) is always so sweet and mind opening as usual, Amy's Honeymoon (Julia Llewellyn) is so straight forward,predictable,light and fun as chic lit always do and now I'm in the midst of finishing Ke Mana Wang Anda?(Hjh Rohani M.S), wahh tukar angin,baca personal financial book lah pulak kan.. :P
 
p/s:Kak SHasha once mentioned about my style of writing informal things-that I love to include brackets in between.I didn't realize that, but when i reread this post (and most of my post..see! I'm doing it againnn!!), yes I tend to put brackets anywhere I can to justify my thoughts. Whatever lah Shah... :P
 
Bye and have a nice holiday! (Mine will be a very hectic one, though :)

Tuesday, October 13, 2009

So much to say, so little time (to write)

Ehem ehem.
 
After raya till now, its been three weeks in a row I witnessed solemnization ceremony of my good friends.
 
What those suppose to mean?? 
 
(post cubaan, post sebenar akan menyusul :)