I’m so excited about this week’s edition. Not only has it been an exciting week finding all this great content, but there are also some very exciting opportunities coming out for you to instantly save on your daily expenses.

Also, just a note that next week’s newsletter may not happen. I will be climbing a mountain at that time and I have unfortunately not found a process to have this thing work without me.

However, I will shoot out a short summary on the facebook bot so if your’e not there yet, sign up by clicking on the messenger icon!

From Our Own Site

Why Saving For Retirement is Bad Advice
Let’s get something clear – I agree that people do not have enough money for their life after they stop working. What I disagree with is the answer to the problem is telling people to save.

Instead, I’m a much bigger fan of having people use that money to buy back some of their time (whether that’s taking a month or two off between jobs, or taking unpaid time off) and exploring things that they think they would enjoy doing during their retirement years. 

Once there’s clarity on the things they would love doing, something magical happens…

From Traditional Media

Maxis launches affordable high speed fibre broadband plans
Just a few weeks ago I covered how there is a plan for the Malaysian government to drop internet prices in Malaysia.

Well, The Star has reported that both Maxis and TM have both updated their broadband plans. Maxis even has a plan that is under RM100 a month. The MaxisONE 30mpbs plan has unlimited quota and costs RM89. If it lives up to its claims, you should be able to get close to 3MB/s in both download and upload speed, which is enough for 3 different Netflix shows to run at the same time (meaning it’s most likely more than enough for a family).

They will officially start installations on 13 September but I suggest you wait a little longer to see how the rest of the competition will respond (I’m counting on you, Time!)

I’m really happy that I have not jumped the gun and signed a broadband contract when I moved into my new place. I’m also super excited to see how Time will respond as they tend to have the best broadband deals.

Take away: cheaper internet is soon available but wait a bit longer before signing or committing to it!

OCBC Bank rolls out savings account with FD-type interest rate
If you or someone you know (ie parents) put money in fixed deposits that give 3.25% or less, OCBC might be able to offer you a better deal. 

OCBC has improved their interest rate offerings for their Booster account holders. Now if you put over RM30,000 into OCBC booster account, you will get a return of 3.25% (after their promotional period of 3.5%). Although there are still fixed deposits that offer higher interest rates, the key benefit with this account is that you can also withdraw the money in case there was ever an emergency (as opposed to having it locked for up to 5 years). This makes for a great place to leave your emergency fund (if you have that much saved up).

Take away: if you have over RM30,000 sitting in a bank, consider moving it to OCBC and get a 3.25% return.

From Local Malaysian Bloggers

100 Ideas for Personal Finance
Most of these ideas are simple, which makes it powerful. Most of these are things that you could do tomorrow and if you do two a week, you’d be able to check it all off and save a bunch along the way!

Ideas From Around The World

You Can Do It! Meal Planning for Beginners
Malaysia’s one of the only places that I’ve been where eatign out at a mamak can be as cheap as making your own meal. However, if you leave the mamak world (because you want to eat healthier or different), cooking will become cheaper than eating out for sure.

This blog gives you the basic steps in planning out your meals. I found it super helpful as I’m looking to be more conscious of what I eat so to have a list of meals I know will take care of my health and how I would go about making them regularly is super helpful.

If You’ve Experienced Lifestyle Creep, Read this.
This is a great blog post about understanding that money is here to help us live the lives we want. The writer talks about starting off his journey with his girlfriend living in a mold-infested place for $350/month and how they slowly moved into nicer, bigger places. How they went from one beat up car to two cars, one of them a Tesla.

The point he’s trying to make is that it’s okay to want more, have more. So long as your income is also increasing (related: the best way to make more money), but more importantly, so long as you are consciously deciding on wanting to make the lifestyle upgrade and not simply caught in wanting it because everyone around you has it.

As the blogger puts it: 
“Whether you tend to spend a lot or prefer to live frugally, the important part is why?

Are you trying to impress someone with your choices? Instead, what about figuring out what you really want, and being true to that? It’s way harder than matching someone dollar for dollar on a fancy new phone (which looks pretty awesome) or pleasing your frugal inlaws, but there’s real magic in aligning your money choices with your truest desires.”

Practical Goal Setting for Finance and Personal Success
A very well written piece around what exactly it means to set goals for yourself. The main steps are:

1. Live Life
   Good goals are rooted in the reality of your life and your experience and who you are as a person, and that’s different from everyone else on Earth.
2. When You Notice Something You’re Not Happy With, Don’t Ignore It
   Once you’ve noticed something you’re unhappy with, the next step is to give it some serious thought
3. Think Through the Problem
   Give yourself some time to think through the problem. 3 ways of doing it are:
   • Spare Thoughts
     Whenever you have a spare moment (stuck in traffic, lining up etc), think about the problem and ask why it is a problem.
   • Homework
     Study the problem in detail.
   • Freeform Journaling, or “Three Morning Pages”
     Spend an hour each day writing whatever comes to you. Not only will you feel much better getting it all onto paper, but you’ll be able to look at it objectively.

   Note: Recognize the Internal Value
   If a goal is not intrinsically tied to one of those things you truly care about on a deep level, it’s probably not going to succeed.

4. Stating the Basic Goal
   A good goal starts by distinguishing where you’re at from where you want to be.
5. Making the Goal SMART
   Make the goal specific, measurable, actionable, realistic, bound by time (ie: I will pay off $10,000 of my student debt in the next 12 months).
6. From Goals to To-Dos and Reminders
   Create a list of things you need to do to make that goal happen and set a bunch of reminders to keep you on track.
7. Even SMARTER – Evaluate and Readjust
   Your goal will never go perfectly according to plan, ever, and success comes from constantly evaluating and readjusting your goal.

Are you a shopaholic? How to fight a shopping addiction
How to fight the shopping addiction:

• Cut up credit cards
• Carry cash only
• Track every penny you spend
• Play mind games
• Avoid temptations
• Ask for help

What to do when you’re tempted to buy? Ask yourself the following:

• When will I use this?
• Do I have another one like this already?
• If I buy this, where will I put it?
• If I buy this, can I pay cash? Would I pay cash for this?
• Can I buy a good quality used version for less?
• Do I know anyone who already owns one I can borrow?
• Can I wait to buy this?
• Why do I want to buy this?
• Are there better options available?
• What would my partner say if I bought this?