Saving plan untuk noobies macam aku...

Every time I want to create a new post, the starting has always been like this "sorry for the long hiatus". (Whatever girl, the medium is yours. You can write whenever you are free). So, I won't be apologising this time. I will just write whatever I want whenever I want.

When the aging process starts, I start to think on so many thing i.e. career, hobbies, money, house, travels, health, diet, weight, handbags, etc. One new thing came up yesterday. I decided to write about it now. As per headline, I will talk about the plan I subscribed yesterday, for the first time.

One of my concerns nowadays is about money. I am sure I will have to do just fun in my life in future (not that I'm not having fun with my life now, just I have to be specific in deciding my hobbies) like travelling wherever I want, buying things I adore so much, treat myself to good foods, etc. Originally, I plan to just put my money in Tabung Haji (I will refer as TH from now on) instead of ASB. I learned that both give quite the same percentage of dividend and bonuses per year. Since I'm so lazy to pay the zakat by myself, I decided to put it all in TH since TH will auto deduct everything and leave me with net account balance in the final statement of the year. ASB? I just don't know what will happen to my money in you. Let the money grow by itself silently, eh? Then, the worry came as my greediness grew as adult. According to my colleague, TH only gives bonuses and dividend for the first RM10,000 of your saving in the account. If you save RM10,000 and more, you are just entitled to receive dividend. With the current health of global economy, I bet this plan won't give bigger return. So, I plan to save at somewhere else. Here it comes.

Allianz saving plan. Yes, it is that insurance company, Allianz. I just knew that Allianz is a German insurance company (Prudential is UK's by the way). Bear in mind, this plan needs your 20 years of commitment and you cannot withdraw easily (of course you can, it's your money anyway). If you withdraw, it will defeat the objective. This plan obviously looks a retirement plan. Since you won't be withdrawing the money you save now, you will surely enjoy it after 20 years (that's why I say it is too obvious). However, should any emergency come arise, you can always withdraw the GCP you get. So... what is GCP? GCP is guaranteed cash payment. Say, you are subscribing the RM10,000 per year saving plan in which you can pay monthly or quarterly or even lump sum, Allianz will give 20% of that RM10k for the first 10 years. So, you will receive RM2,000 every year. So, in total, at the end of year 10, you will surely get RM120,000. For the second half of the plan i.e from year 11 till 20, the GCP will be increased to 40%, so now you can get RM4,000 every year. The accumulated total should now be RM260,000. After year 20, you can stop the RM10,000 yearly saving plan. As for now, you are free from the commitment. However, if you wish to not withdraw all the money out, you can let it grow more and enjoy 60% GCP for the following years with Allianz. Say, you let the money for another 10 years, will you only get RM 60,000, so the total saving with Allianz from year 1 to 30 with the GCP is RM320,000 (20 years x RM 10,000 + 10 years x RM2,000 + 10 years x RM4,000 + 10 years x RM6,000).

Don't feel like it worthy, right? Don't worry. If you are richer, you can save more. The plan has a RM5,000 minimum plan, but no maximum plan. That means, you can save even RM10,000 or more with Allianz and enjoy higher return with the same GCP percentage plan. It is the consistency in saving behaviour that we are after, though. The plan just nurture the saving culture as the withdrawal is not as easy as the conventional saving account in banks. But, feel assured, I am yet to explain the other two features of the plan.

In this plan, you can still enjoy the benefit you have when saving with other conventional system i.e. having dividend and bonuses as per financial performance of the institution. With Allianz, the range could be from 2.9% to 5.0% (it could be higher, it could be less, no one knows). It does look pretty small figure I have to admit. Conventional banks give 3% to 4% average dividend, so Allianz should be at par with them. But, if you were to compare with other investment tools, for sure Allianz' looked smaller. The dividend and bonuses are given as per accumulated amount of the saving. If you have saved RM12,000 at the end of year 1, that amount would be multiplied with dividend/bonuses % to get the value you earn for that year. If you consistently follow the saving plan without withdrawing any portion, you will surely enjoy higher return from the dividend/bonuses%. Just as same as normal saving concept.

Just the last feature you will get of this plan, the so called life insurance (in bracket). In the case of accidental death, the beneficiary will get twice the amount you have gotten in Allianz. Bear in mind, this is purely based on your saving. So, the more you save, the more the beneficiary will get.

(NB: I haven't gotten my policy yet, so I may be misinformed or less informed about some details.)

If you want a pure product of life insurance, there is one plan in which you pay RM100 monthly and get RM500,000 coverage of your life insurance (I'm not yet subscribing this plan, so I am not briefed into detail about this). Yes, you may say that you cannot enjoy that big money nevertheless. But, think of the debts you own now (or in future). Who are going to pay those debts on your behalf when you are gone, if not your beneficiary? So, you need to leave them with peace in term of financial things. I am sure you don't want to burden your loved ones even when you are dead. Furthermore, from what I've been told, if you wish to buy a house worth RM500,000, you can use this as the home loan protection plan (don't mock me of not using the correct term I don't know), instead of the insurance from the banks you made the loan (which is higher from what people say?). If you died before paying completely the loan, the beneficiary can use RM500,000 to pay whatever necessary for complete payment. The remaining amount can then be distributed according to the fixed percentage you have allocated or just follow Faraid calculation.

Not that I'm promoting Allianz's products, I'm just sharing my perspective on the product. I just start, so I'm yet to explore on other investment tools that have low risks (I'm not a risk taker by the way). If I found a better plan/product in future, I would share it again. 

Maid of Honour? Pengapit? Whatever you call it lah!

Sorry for the long hiatus. I am saying sorry to myself as I'm probably the only one aware of the existence of this blog anyway.

So, fast forward to the recent month, I entered the professional world. Yeay! After years of studying, I finally get to work as an adult, though it is a bit later than others of the same age. Alhamdulillah. Better late than never, right? The feeling? I am still adapting to the world full of competition among colleagues, in healthy way I mean. Not that I need to betray anyone or even use my own small fist to climb the ladder. I am cool, okay? Haha. Still trying to love my current job. 

Back to my headline of post, I'll be ranting about my recent duties as Maid of Honour, in other word, the best woman (does the term even exist?), both to my primary school's friends. One thing I will say here is I am suck at this. I cannot tolerate on the etiquette of being the 'manager' to the bride though. It is just not my style. With those makcik-makcik's looks and stares lagi, urghhhhhh. So, I'll summarise my findings and hope if anyone happen to read this, please convey the message to the society, especially the bride and the makcik.

1. Never wear skirts or dresses or veils with length further than your feet unless you don't mind to get them dirty.

OMG. This one should have OMG emphasis. My plain mind just don't understand how these makcik-makcik think. Are you aware that I'm holding the umbrella or even the kipas? So if I am holding both, how do you expect me to pegang that extra length of kain? Hell NO. I am pretty sure the skirt/dress/veil is made to such length to sweep the floor. It supposes to get dirty, okay? Kalau tak nak kotor, pengantin, please jangan pakai kain meleret. It is clearly not your pengapit's duty to take care of your kain. Dah siapa suruh pakai kain meleret. Kan susah nak jalan. Plus, the rombongan yang mengiringi pengantin ketika bertandang, kalau dah nampak pengantin berbaju meleret jalan, tak payah la nak himpit rapat. Grrrrrr. Kang terpijak, salah siapa? Pengapit jugak sebab nanti makcik-makcik akan cakap, "Kenapa pengapit tak jaga kain pengantin?" Grrrrrr. Salah aku pulak la pengapit nak tersadung. Pengantin yang pakai kot. Maybe korang rasa macam aku ni pengapit useless, okay I take the blame. I won't blame my bride. But, please la masyarakat, get the fact right, okay? Those kain meleret bukanlah untuk dipegang oleh orang lain. Kain tu layak menyapu lantai. Tapi, kalau dah nampak tahi lembu, tak payah nak sapu jugak. Angkat la. Solution paling simple, designer tak payah buat kain meleret (tak boleh pon kan sebenarnya dalam agama), pengantin pon tak payah nak mengada pakai yang meleret tu. Tak kuasa okay nak jaga kain untuk korang sebab nak tutup mulut makcik-makcik yang extra risau korang tersadung bagai sebab kain tu orang pijak or kotor, okay?

2. Tuan rumah pon layak duduk di meja pengantin lebih-lebih lagi yang memang buat satu majlis je

Okay, get the focus here 'lebih-lebih lagi yang memang buat satu majlis je'.  Dah kalau satu majlis je, matter pulak tuan rumah tak boleh makan sekali dengan pengantin masa sesi makan beradab? Gila apa? It is the memory that shall be created with both parties kot. Bukan selalu anak tu kahwin and makan beradab. Tak kan la tuan rumah tak boleh join? Mak bapak kot. And please la family member pengantin, just to ease the ceremony, could you just cooperate with the liaison personnel to go to the high table in case you are invited? Tak payah la cakap "tak kan akak kot?" Grrrr. Who are you at the first place? Kakak pengantin kot. Dah ada extra seat, makan je la. Susah sangat eh? You know, masa bertandang ke rumah pihak lelaki ataupun bersanding di rumah perempuan, both parents are eligible to sit at the high table. If tuan rumah memang insist and cakap siap-siap from the start (ni yang memang dah manage properly and ikut style masing-masing) tak nak makan beradab di rumah sendiri, then fine lah. Mak cik pak cik yang lain, tolong jangan bising eh? Tak kan la tolong jaga booth kat entrance majlis untuk setengah jam pon nak berkira? Kata adik-beradik. Kerjasama la sikit.

3. Pergi bergambar bila orang dah ajak mula-mula

Kalau ikut trend majlis kahwin zaman sekarang, selalunya ada DJ. Kalau tak de DJ, someone must be there to assist on this matter. Orang dah ajak kot awal-awal, jom pergi bergambar kat pelamin, pak cik mak cik dekk je kan? Lepas tu bila dah ramai nak ambil gambar pengantin, pak cik mak cik kena tunggu, tahu pulak nak marah. Sampai tiga kali buat announcement panggil merenjis dan bergambar kot? Oh please la, nak buat muka pulak sebab kena tunggu eh? Orang dah ajak awal kot. Nasib baik la saya jumpa pak cik mak cik sekali tu je. Lepas tu, tuan rumah pon tolong take turn and know your priority in treating pihak yang bertandang please? Dah tahu tuan ruamh, tak payah la nak ambil gambar dulu dengan pengantin. They are at your place kot, nanti lepas sesi fotografi dengan yang bertandang selesai, tadah la muka sampai lebam dengan pengantin. Apa? Sebab takut nak tinggal entrance lama-lama? Then, cepat-cepat la ambil gambar. Tak payah la time tu la baru nak cari saudara mara yang duduk dekat khemah masak, dalam rumah etc etc. Aih.... Tak faham.

4. Tell your pengapit where should she stand

Okay, yang ni memang salah aku 100%. Al maklumlah tak de experience. Blur memanjang. You know, dulu-dulu kerusi pengantin dekat pelamin macam satu-satu, and ada space la kat tepi untuk pengapit berdiri. As in, it is clear that pengapit can stand next to bride and groom. But, as the trend and design evolves from time to time, kerusi pengantin sekarang ada yang jenis the long curve bench, and I HATE it.  Where on earth do you expect me to stand and kipas you? Dah kata curvy, tak kan la pengapit nak berdiri depan pengantin. In my personal opinion, rasa macam cacat je. So dah jadi serba salah dah. Diri jauh nanti tak boleh kipas pengantin, dah panas. Nak diri dekat, takut mengganggu frame pulak. Aiseyh...

Walau apa pon perancangan anda, make it simple. Jangan complicated sangat. Pak cik mak cik jangan  nak meriah sangat mulut tu nak bising-bising. Dengar dek orang macam saya yang sangat fragile ni, terus hilang mood. Apa-apa pon, selamat dah dua orang kawan kahwin... Aku? Chill je la. Nanti sampai la masanya kalau memang dah tertulis di Luh Mahfuz. Gitu....