dear dear : Proton MPV = Proton Exora

Proton has announced the name for the new Proton MPV - the Proton Exora! The Exora is based on the name of the Ixora flower, with the tagline “Keriangan Keluarga”. The name was picked by the Name The Proton MPV competition grand prize winner Norsholihan Bt Abdul Eanich, who also gets to drive around the vehicle she named once the people carrier is launched. Proton’s new 7-seater MPV will be launched sometime in this year.

Proton has announced that the MPV will be priced at under RM 80,000 and will be available in 5 colours - Genetic Silver, Tranquility Black, Blue Haze, Pyrite Brown and Gaia Blue. In terms of safety, all variants will have at least 2 SRS airbags as standard, but this will be as far as it will go in terms of total airbag count. The Proton Exora will be built in the Shah Alam plant. Cost of development was slightly over RM 450 million.

source: paultan.org

finally Proton MPV is named as Proton Exora, it looks elegant overall, driven by 1.6 campro cps and price is tagged under rm80k .the steering just looks like the new honda city's steering and i wonder if the grip feeling the same.. keke...

i wonder if to get one replacement for my dad since his aged iswara's maintenance cost is getting higher & higher, yet i have to ask myself, does my family really need a MPV? since there is only 4 members + my wife in my family and i oredi got my xiao ke ai. hmm.... it is really not a good option, maybe go for persona or waja cps better which could save 20k or more (stupid piggy gov gives me the only option: local manufacturing car, bxxody hxll !@#$35!#$^!@)

well, currently dun have extra $$ for the car replacement, still saving for my sg hdb deposit & wedding budget. sometimes, i ask myself, will i look like a typical singaporean who always think of $$ first?! well, if u r one of my housemates, u will know this is not the $$ problem & how desperate we wanna move out.. @!%@#6*%$#^

dear dear: Car Loan Vs Housing Loan

currently i am having car loan, housing loan with am bank & hsbc respectively.

after m'sia government review BLR, my housing loan interest rate drops from 6.75% to 6.5%. (thanks for hsbc bank drop 0.25%, i check with some other banks, their BLR drops only 0.2% which is 6.55%).

ding~~~ sth comes to my mind!!

since the housing loan interest rate drops while car interest rate holds still, how if i withdraw the housing loan money (my housing loan is fully flexible package, can withdraw money which i pay extra earlier at any time without inform) to make a full settlement for car loan. can this method save money for me? how much can i save if i make a full settlement for my car loan? from my understanding, the car loan is hire purchase, so interest rate calculate method is different from the housing loan.

after making research from the web, i came out with the conclusion tat full settlement of car loan now give a better value.

	Settle Car now	Settle Car 3 year later	Settle Car 5 year later
Car Loan Total Pay	$ 3,556	$ 18,288	$ 30,480
Housing Loan Total Pay	$ 25,244	$ 23,231	$ 0
Total Amount Pay	$ 28,800	$ 30,218	$ 30,480

actually i can save rm1680 for about 5 years (roughly rm330 yearly) but the most important is tat i no need to go 2 banks to make payment every month, and it could save lots of trouble from me.

well, this case study is only applicable if BLR remains at 6.50% in the coming 5 years. if BLR rises, i might lose. if BLR drops, i could save more. it looks like a gamble, yet i dun foresee the BLR would rise in the coming 2 years.

wonder if my calculation is correct as my engineering background, can any1 from account or finance enlighten me?!

奶茶---美女刘若英的奶茶式理财秘诀

1) 简单过生活
已经算是千万富婆的奶茶美女--刘若英，她的生活其实过得很简单。
她的衣服都是属于普通的，不过偏向简单自然,舒服至上的。
她对居住的环境要求最高，所以家里被她布置得非常的舒适。
她在台北的家最大的特色就是洗手间。洗手间很大，主要用米色、绿色、白色装修。
因为刘若英喜欢泡澡，她的一个梦想就是和所爱的人一起泡鸳鸯澡。
所以她认为颜色舒适、大一点空间，感觉就会很舒服。

(2) 532法则
奶茶式的理财方式=>“532法则”，就是收入的50%存银行，
30%用来花(没有意见)，剩余的20%是留给朋友去借。
她是从事娱乐事业，口碑和人缘是很重要的。朋友多了,工作的机会自然也就多了。
预备把20%借给有需要的朋友，有利于她认识更多的朋友，因此得到更多的赚钱机会。

(3) 节省
在花钱方面,她是属于比较节俭的。她花费最多的是花在吃的方面。除了吃，刘若英最喜欢的就是买书了。

(4) 书中自有黄金屋
刘若英在其他方面比较节省,但在买书方面却非常舍得花钱。
刘若英的书房已经摆了她自己都数不清的书,很多已经装到了大大的木箱里。
而她最喜欢的人物传记之类则已经被珍藏起来。
对于一个艺人来说,艺术生涯的延续也许是他们最大的投资目的。
容颜易老,而内涵的提升则是无限的。
刘若英对书的热爱,其实也有利于她进一步地拓宽自己的视野,
提升自己的演艺水平,由此而带来的财富也将会大大增加。
因此,买书是她最大的投资,也是她最成功的投资!

dear dear: 宁做创业狼，不做打工狗

当然这话说的很极端，很多打工的朋友都不乐意听，但是我们仔细想想，还真有点道理呢。

　　狼为了寻求自由，宁愿独立人格，自由思想，天天奔跑在大草原上，肆意的猎杀牛羊，尽可能的享受大自然提供的一切美味，吃饱后就躺在草地上，什么都不想，享受阳光和自由的空气，他们是草原的主宰，他们有的是尊严。不过当严寒来临时，他们必须学会抗拒暴风雪的寒冷，学会在厚厚的雪堆下面寻找猎物，时常忍受饥饿的痛苦，随时担心自己冻饿而死。狼的生活可谓一半是海水，一半是火焰。

　　狗的生活恰恰相反，平时狗只能吃主人剩下的残羹冷炙，被主人吆喝着到处忙活，没有自由，没有尊严，只有摇尾乞怜，狗的生活是有保证的，虽然从来吃不到什么美味，但是冬天到来时也不担心挨饿受冻，有主人的屁护，狗们感恩戴德，发誓下一辈子依旧为主人效忠，即便主人肆意的打骂狗们，狗们也多半不敢吭一声，因为听话和驯服是狗们的标志。委曲求全是狗们的标签，为了稳定的饭碗，为了自己老时有一份固定的口粮，一切都认了！

　　如果把现实生活中的人们进行比较，估计我们大多都是过着狗的生活，稳定安逸，但是永远吃不饱，想离开主人家的狗窝，但是缺乏破釜沉舟的勇气！

　　我感到现实中的年轻人的职业选择大多是做打工狗，而不是做创业狼。可能很多朋友会说，刚出校门的学生，哪里有资本和经验去创业呀？最好的选择就是去公司打工几年，储备点经验和资金，然后几年后有机会的话再自己创业。

　　其实这样的想法证明是很错误的，一个大学生工作几年后，不但赚不到创业所需要的钱，更是无法学到创业的经验与技能。打工生涯学到的东西对创业基本上是没有用的，因为两者的角度不同，思考方式不同，得到的经验体会也不同，只能这么说，打工几年后你唯一获得提高的是打工的技术技能，而创业最不需要的就是技术技能了。

　　更可怕的是，打工几年后，年轻人普遍会丧失创业的激情，丧失初生牛犊不怕虎的勇气，越来越沉湎于单位之中难以自拔，后来创业的念头只能永远的留在心底，成为永久的遗憾。等到年龄到了40多被老板辞退的时候，才后悔20年前为什么不出来自己创业呀！

　　打工人生与创业人生一定是不一样的。时间长了，打工者的性格与创业者的性格会有越来越大的差别。

dear dear - refinance housing loan (2)

after doing some research from internet, i find out there is another bank offer attractive interest rate a, which is hoxx leoxx bank :P

hoxx leoxx bank offer

loan amount : 170k + 6k (penalty cost for exiting previous package)
tenture: 15 years
lock in tenture: 5 years, penalty 3% of original loan amount
interest rate: BLR - 1.9% for for whole tenture

total repayment: $248,054.99

furthermore, hoxx leoxx bank just few steps out from my house, the agent is my science society senior which is trustful enough. somemore, there is no monthly saving account maintenance charge ($10, which can save up for $1,800 for 15 years) hmmm.. quite a great offer. should i wait for another quote from public bank?! advisor pls.....

dear dear - refinance housing loan (1)

me and dad bought a house at 2 years ago at jb. recently recieved a call from standxxx charterxx bank regarding refinance my current housing loan. they offered quite an attractive package.

my current package with alliaxxx bank

loan amount : 170k
tenture: 15 years
lock in tenture: 3 years, penalty 3% of original loan amount
interest rate: BLR + 0.25% for first 3 years
BLR - 1.35% for remaining years

total repayment: $256,667.45


standxxx charterxx bank offer

loan amount : 170k + 6k (penalty cost for exiting previous package)
tenture: 15 years
lock in tenture: 5 years, penalty 3% of original loan amount
interest rate: BLR - 1.65% for first 5 years
BLR - 2.05% for remaining years

total repayment: $249,100.52

current BLR is 6.75%. there is a 7k difference between 2 packages, quite worthed it. but the problem is only 1 standxxx charterxx bank at jb and not so convenient to reach there. i am thinking of asking public bank to offer me, but could not find any contact.

or should i refinance after 3 years (after lock in period) anyone can advise?

dear dear - monthly budget

have been working for about 3 years in singapore. still find myself running out of budget from time to time especially when encounter urgent cases. been thinking a way to solve it out for quite long, yet could not find the best way as urgent cases come one after one :(

1. reduce monthly monthly expenses

• nomore credit card, nomore movie, nomore dinner outsides (wuaaa... i could feel my shine shine is running to slap me from behind if she c this)

2. increase monthly income

• invest in fund - oredi invest using cpf, but dun forseen a high return (sometimes even lose, arghhhh) anyway, a long term investment plan, not a good solution if petty cash needed.
• invest in stock - been a bear market since last election in malaysia, think it is abt the time to step in. need expert's opinions as me still a noob newbie. anyone can help?!
• invest in housing property - also a long term plan, from the opinion from a great future-dad-in-law, market more than satuated as supply is much more higher than demard in JB, u could not get a return unless u could get a friendly tenant there.
• invest in plantation - as if i am a millionaire....
• invest in Red Island Cafe (IRC) - it has been discussed like a hot cake in the malaysia forum , i wonder it works or not. keep on monitoring or anyone can advise?
• invest in 4D, Toto, Soccer Betting - my shine shine will backsnap me if she find out :p

3. reduce probability of urgent cases

• pray to god tat my dad w0nt lose current job again
• pray to god tat my granddad is healthy and nomore shouting to c doc
• pray to god tat watever, watever and watever

in summary, i could still able to survive but never get rich :(