February 2021

How to release mental stress during MCO period

Many entrepreneurs are suffering from financial problem during MCO because of the restricted movement. The employees, due to the slow-down in the companies’ sales and revenues, are being affected too. For those who are not financially stable, they might be feeling stress on how to resolve the day-to-day problem. So, I’m writing this article to share some easy and popular ways one can do to release mental stress. When stress is reduced, one will tend to be happier and hence financial matters can be slowly improved too. It is not good to be stressed! When you are stressed, your brain will be blocked, good things can hardly come!

Exercise: exercise is effective in reducing stress because it will lower the cortisol level (the stress hormone) in the long run. It will also release endorphins which is a hormone to help improve mood. Adequate exercise improves sleep quality which can help to combat stress. Even if one is having financial stress, it shall never stop one from allocating time for exercise.
Drink green tea: green tea contains many polyphenol antioxidants which may help to increase serotonin level. It is also a cheaper drink option than sugary Teh Tarik or carbonated drink.
Inhale essential oil: some essential oil can help to improve mood and hence reducing stress, e.g. Lavender oil, Frankincense oil, sandalwood oil, vetiver oil are the few examples.
Reduce coffee: coffee contains stimulant like caffeine which might increase anxiety which leads to stress.
Spend more time on social events: mix more with family members and friends. Interaction with others can promote the sense of belongings hence reducing stress.
Face the reality and do planning: Sometimes, avoiding the stress is not useful. One can sit down to think about the root cause of the stress, write it down and identify ways to resolve it. Once the root cause is identified, it can be easily addressed.
Be positive and laugh more: Event is neutral, and stress is in fact comes from internal feeling. One can only hold a single feeling. If one is laughing, he cannot be sad. Laugh more and hence one will find stress is disappearing.

The above are some tips on how one can reduce / release stress. Sometimes it takes a combination of efforts (physical, mental and dietary) to get the best result.

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Covid 19 vaccines: Pfizer-BioNTech vs CoronaVac

The first batch of 312,390 doses of Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine safely arrived in Malaysia through the national entry points at Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA), Sepang, Johor and Penang on 21 Feb 21. Malaysia received its second batch of 182,520 doses of Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine on 24 Feb 21 for distribution to states that have yet to receive the vaccine. Malaysia is set to receive China’s Sinovac Covid-19 vaccine on 27 Feb 2021, about a week after the first shipment of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine reached Malaysia, awaiting final approval from authorities, which will further strengthen the country’s economic recovery path. Some are curious about the vaccines details, so I’m compiling data to write this article to understand what the difference between these 2 vaccines: –

Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine is a COVID-19 vaccine developed by the German company BioNTech in cooperation with Pfizer. CoronaVac is an inactivated virus COVID-19 vaccine developed by Sinovac.
Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine is the first COManyVID-19 vaccine to be authorized by a stringent regulatory authority while CoronaVac is in Phase III clinical trials in Brazil, Chile, Indonesia, Philippines and Turkey.
CoronaVac does not need to be frozen, and both the vaccine and raw material for formulating the new doses could be transported and refrigerated at 2–8 °C (36–46 °F), temperatures at which flu vaccines are kept. CoronaVac could remain stable for up to three years in storage, which might offer some advantage in vaccine distribution to regions where cold chains are not developed. On the other hand, Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine is having issues in distribution and storage because it needs to be stored at temperatures between −80 and −60 °C (−112 and −76 °F), until five days before vaccination when it can be stored at 2 to 8 °C (36 to 46 °F), and up to two hours at temperatures up to 25 °C (77 °F) or 30 °C (86 °F).
For Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, an interim analysis of study data showed a potential efficacy of over 90% in preventing infection within seven days of a second dose. For CoronaVac, Brazil announced results on 13 Jan 2021 showing 50.4% effective at preventing symptomatic infections, 78% effective in preventing mild cases needing treatment, and 100% effective in preventing severe cases. Phase III results from an interim analysis of a small sample were announced by Turkey on 24 Dec 2020 with an efficacy of 91.3%. Additional results were announced by Indonesia on 11 Jan 2021 with an efficacy of 65.3%.
Immunization schedule for CoronaVac is two doses at 2 weeks’ interval. On the other hand, Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine requires two doses given three weeks apart.
The most common side effects of Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine include mild to moderate pain at the injection site, fatigue, and headache. No detailed breakdown or information relating to side effects of CoronaVac but it has showed some minor fatigue or discomfort on patients tested on the vaccine. The Food and Drug Monitoring Agency of Indonesia mentioned it has no critical side effect.

**Info compiled from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CoronaVac, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pfizer%E2%80%93BioNTech_COVID-19_vaccine, https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/covid-19/info-by-product/pfizer

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Which sectors to invest in 2021 (Post Covid 19)

While fixed deposit rate is currently at its all times low, people are looking for ways to put their hard-earned money into some assets to generate better return than fixed deposit rate. Below are my thoughts on the sectors to be invested in 2021:-

Communication technology sector: We can never deny the effect of the technological advancement on our daily life now. Imagine how much time we spend on social media every day. Imagine how we frequent we make comments or read news online than a decade ago. Imagine how frequent we use our computer for our learning, work and banking. If you spend more time on technology applications, so do everyone in the globe. Companies in this sector worth considered to be invested in will be social media platforms, 5G technologies, software companies, companies which produces chips, hardware that support the application of technologies.

Revolutionary technology sector: Human is constantly looking for ways to do things better. We are also relying more on machines to help us on our daily task. This sector includes companies which are focusing on robotic, artificial intelligence and block chain.

E-commerce platforms: Due to COVID-19, our shopping patterns have been transformed from physical to digital. Previously, many elderly people do not shop online, however, now most people including the juniors and the seniors are learning how to buy things online. Companies which focus on online shopping shall have better advantage and worth to be considered in your investment portfolio.

Healthcare sector: We desire more healthy lifestyle and beautiful looking than ever before. Hence, biotechnology sector shall be treated as one of the important sectors to be invested in. Companies which focus on anti-aging, promoting healthy diet shall have better prospect than fast food companies. My focus now is not on COVID-19 vaccines producers but more on long term health care companies that focus on better health solutions.

Energy saving sector: Environmental issues like pollution and greenhouse effect have been affecting the earth and human for a long time. Energy saving in recent decade becomes the attention. Companies which focus on energy saving like fuel consumption reduction, promoting solar energy, electric cars shall be the investment target too.

While technology-based companies might be over-valued at the moment, one shall consider the company’s long term sustainability and its competitive advantage against its competitors while selecting it within your investment portfolio. One can consider looking for small to mid-cap companies rather than big-cap to capitalize on their potential in long term growth. The potential of big-cap companies are mostly being captured within their share prices and hence not cheap to be invested in. For those who have limited time on single companies and are looking for fund managers to help them manage their funds, please contact me for recommendations of funds that focus on the above.

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Is Bitcoin worth investing in?

While Bitcoin is recently hitting its all times high, I get people asking me about how to invest in Bitcoin or whether they should go into Bitcoin investment now. If you are interested about Bitcoin topic, you can click here for some basic knowledge about it and here to read more about account opening.

Below are my personal view about Bitcoin (do your own due diligence, this is my personal view and is not a buy or sell recommendation):-

Bitcoin has no fundamental hence it is not a productive asset. I view Bitcoin as one of the commodity products like precious metal, e.g. gold, silver, oil and agriculture products, e,g, soy, wheat, and even currencies like USD and MYR. These types of products have no intrinsic value. The gain is purely based on speculation on the future prospect of such assets and the demand. Hence, when many people think that the products will be needed in near future and many are buying into it, the assets will be rising in price. Same goes to what happen recently, Bitcoin price is increasing after Master Card and Tesla announcing their acceptance and usage of Bitcoin. If you are buying into this asset, you shall understand how it works and believe it will be used in the future. Buying Bitcoin without understand its function is a pure speculation and almost equivalent to gambling your money into something unknown to you.

Bitcoin is decentralized money. The current currencies that we are using, i.e. USD, MYR are centralized money. The value of the currencies is largely controlled by the Central Government or Federal Reserve. Bitcoin is not being controlled by anyone hence can be viewed as a threat to the current monetary system. It is hence being considered as risk in investing in it as the value of Bitcoin can eventually be affected by the general acceptance of the various governments. If the governments are imposing strict rules (if they are able to do so), what do you think the price of Bitcoin will be? Just like what happen to Alibaba when the government is imposing rules on its monopolistic practices.

While saying the potential effect of government on Bitcoin, it is also important to note the feature of decentralized nature of Bitcoin. Personally, I felt that people are moving into freedom zone which people do not like to be controlled. One of the obvious examples is people is currently having free talk and comments on various online blogs and forums disregarding the government control. This is also why many people are favouring the online forums and social media platforms on expressing their views. Will Bitcoin be favoured as well in the future because it is something that not being controlled by the Government? I started to invest some monies in Bitcoin viewing it is one of the assets that can help me to diversify my risk of the current currencies. Also, I personally believe that it could be the future trend of the community who treasure freedom and digital. Hence, it is my view that Bitcoin can emerge as the currency that can potentially replace the current centralized monetary system.

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Your kids have received some Ang Pao monies! So what’s next?

Every year, your kids will surely receive some monies. The monies received can be as high as 4 figures every year! What to do with them? You shall put these monies to work in long term. See the table below:-

If your kid is receiving RM1,200 Ang Pao every year, after 15 years, your kid will get RM 18,000 in the saving account at almost 0% interest. Meanwhile, if you choose to help your kid to invest and put into an investment account which grows at 8% annually, the money would have almost double to RM 32,000+. If the rate of return is 12%, the RM 1,200 yearly Ang Pao would turn to RM 44,000+ in 15 years. That is the power of compounding interest and the habit of regular saving.

If the money is untouched for long time, choose a saving place that can help you kids to grow their Ang Pao monies. It can be part of their education fund in the future too! These are some of my kids’ investment accounts and I started with only RM 5,000 each and slowly, it turned out to slowly grow into 5 figures account.

Where you choose to save your money is crucial. Every little effort counts! Let’s help your kids to grow their monies too! Contact me if you wish to help your kids to set up this little investment account!

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MCO and can’t visit relatives and friends? This is how you can send Ang Pao!

This year is a special year which we are not allowed to travel and visit relatives and friends. No worry, we have Zoom meeting which allows us to meet our friends, family members, relatives electronically! How about angpao? With the advanced technology, these are the few ways you can send your Ang Pao too!

Wechat: Wechat allows you to send money via Wechat Pay and include the special Chinese New Year message!

Send monies via Wechat with special message

E-wallets like “Touch and Go”, “Boost” and “Grabpay”: many are giving promotions like cash backs and lucky draws

Various banks – Maybank2u, Ambank, CIMB clicks, Hong Leong bank, HSBC banks, etc.: many are having promotions for sending e-angpao and you can win prizes too while sending angpao like usual!

Check out the promotions on the banks or e-wallet websites! Don’t miss out the lucky draw while sending Ang Pao to your loved one! Personally, I prefer Ambank, CIMB and Public Bank. There are better promotions from these 3 banks. You can have lucky draw entry via min transaction of RM 10 for CIMB and Public Bank and RM5 for Ambank. Huat ar!

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How to maximize your money to achieve your goal?

Money and time are valuable resources. So, it is important to understand how you can maximize the use of money so that you can achieve your goals.

In order to maximize the usage of money, you can split the usage into 3 categories: –

Necessities (using “optimization” technique) – these are the things you must spend money on, for example, insurance, food, rental, kid education and transport. So, you need to “optimize” the usage of it, i.e. spend less but getting the same results. This can be done by doing cost comparison or spending on shops which offer long term discount. If you are driving to work alone in a car, consider whether it is possible to car pool to save on transport cost? If you are eating out, check is there any restaurant which can offer better discount?

“Want” item (use “fix the budget” technique) – these are things which are good to have but not necessarily give you great benefits considering the cost. Examples of this category of items are luxurious handbag, watches, big cars, etc. A more expensive handbag would have the same function as a cheaper bag. So, spending on it might only give you higher status, perhaps? In this case, I suggest you to fix a budget on these items, say 2-5% of your salary every month. You shall not spend more than the set budget. Eventually, you will see you are able to save more as you have set the boundary of your expenses on the “want” item. At the same time, you still enjoy the great feeling of having what you want (may not be instantly, but you will eventually get it). It will also give you motivation to earn more money so that the money allocated to these items will be higher.

“Goal” item (use “investment” technique) – Goal items need more effort to get them. Hence, investment shall be used to get better return. Saving money slowly is no longer working to obtain a goal. Commit to put a little bit more time and money to invest, grow your remaining saving better. If you save RM 500 a month, you will have RM 60,000 after 10 years. However, if you save and invest RM 500 a month to an investment which gives 10% a year, you will have RM 463,500 after 10 years. nearly 700% different! Invest to reach your goals.

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What is the first step towards financial success?

“Where there is no vision, the people are unrestrained” – King Solomon

I was recently reading “the Solomon’s secret” and I found some insights within the book which are suitable to be applied to financial planning. In the above proverb, he mentioned the importance of vision. Same applies to financial success.

If you want to build a house, would you begin with finding the contractor who can help you build the house or finding an architect to help you to design your house? Likewise, if you are driving, which one you will do first? Identify where you want to go or find the shortest route possible?

However, when it comes to financial planning, many people want more money without knowing how much money they need. This is like an attempt to find the fastest highway to reach their destination without deciding whether he is heading north or south.

Hence, setting the vision on how your financial success looks like is the first step to financial success. It is more vital than finding the shortcut to success. When having the vision right, several goals such as retirement goal, housing goal, kid education goals will be set. Magic will then happen as the shortest path to these goals will appear.

Don’t believe? When you want a good recommendation for hotel, do you get it easily when you ask around and tell your friends which city you are going? If your question is merely “which hotel is good?” without informing the exact location you want, would you get good recommendation?

Similarly to the example I gave for building a house, once you have the plan of the house that you are going to build, you will easily find specialist contractors who can help you to build what you want. Before having the plan, you are clueless where to start, hence wasting a lot of your time to try to find the best contractors. Don’t ask “how to be rich?” or “how to get more money” or “how to get more return”. It is hard to get good recommendation when people do not understand your financial vision. When the vision is set, the direction and strategies come effortlessly to you!

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