A personal sharing session conducted with my colleagues on how to manage their personal finances and begin their investing journey. Disclaimer: I'm not a financial planner by profession, just sharing from my own personal journey, lessons, experiences.

1. Personal
investing101
A #VoxPowerLunch session by
Jonathan Tan, MD, VoxEureka

2. TABLE OFCONTENTS
INTRO&CAVEATS
Why each journey is
personal
01
WhyInvest?
Debunking myths
and general
principles
02
Gettingstarted
Basic asset classes
and starting your
portfolio
03
Discussion
Open sharing &
learning with each
other
04

3. INTRO&CAVEATS
01
Why each of our financial
journeys will be different

4. LEARNING TO ACCEPT/DEAL WITH
OURLOTINLIFE
PRIVILEGE
Family background,
Inheritance, Education
etc.
THEWAYTHINGSARE
Political perks,
Vocational value,
Market prices
LIFE’SCURVEBALLS
By no fault of our own,
life deals us shitty
cards

5. God, grant me the serenity to
accept the things I cannot change,
the courage to change the things I
can, and the wisdom to know the
difference.
Theserenity prayer
Happinessisablend ofacceptance,contentment,andcarpediem.
ReinholdNiebuhr
1892 - 1971
“
”

6. WhyInvest?
02
Debunking myths and general
principles

7. IfIinvest,I’llbesuper rich!

8. IFISAVEinthebank,it’sgood enough

9. ourvalue ofmoney isgetting smaller
It is challenging for
salaries to keep up
with inflation & cost of
living.
Purchasing Pricing
Parity in Malaysia is in
decline.

10. You neverknowwhatwillhappen

11. DEVELOPINGA “RICH”MINDSET
Video Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TcNpoc-lF0M
VS

12. Which‘dad’ are you?
• Earn salary and spend.
• Car loans, taxes, credit card bills creep in
over time – high expenses.
• Enter a life of debt.
• Constantly needing to refinance.
• Getting impossible to save.
• Earn salary – set aside funds.
• Prudent with spending. Controlling
expenses.
• Mixed portfolio of savings and investment
• Goals: generate passive income
• Goals: acquiring assets
• Resisting debt.

13. Habits ofthe“rich”
• Work hard for their primary income
• Work towards growing additional income
streams
• They acquire assets
• Control & minimize expenses
• Reduce liabilities
• They are motivated to see their money
grow

14. FINANCIAL SCENARIOS (25year career)
Annual
Gross
Income Wealth (1)%
1% Bank
Savings
3,600RM 36RM
7,416RM 74RM
12,026RM 120RM
16,909RM 169RM
22,079RM 221RM
27,901RM 279RM
34,061RM 341RM
40,577RM 406RM
48,393RM 484RM
56,658RM 567RM
65,394RM 654RM
75,852RM 759RM
86,904RM 869RM
98,582RM 986RM
111,997RM 1,120RM
126,168RM 1,262RM
141,134RM 1,411RM
158,305RM 1,583RM
176,435RM 1,764RM
195,575RM 1,956RM
215,774RM 2,158RM
238,912RM 2,389RM
263,330RM 2,633RM
289,094RM 2,891RM
316,272RM 3,163RM
316,272RM
Wealth (3%)
3% Fixed
Deposit
3,600RM 108RM
7,488RM 222RM
12,246RM 361RM
17,370RM 507RM
22,878RM 662RM
29,142RM 837RM
35,860RM 1,022RM
43,057RM 1,217RM
51,684RM 1,452RM
60,917RM 1,700RM
70,786RM 1,962RM
82,552RM 2,276RM
95,121RM 2,607RM
108,537RM 2,957RM
123,924RM 3,360RM
140,335RM 3,785RM
157,824RM 4,234RM
177,818RM 4,749RM
199,115RM 5,293RM
221,782RM 5,867RM
245,893RM 6,473RM
273,347RM 7,167RM
302,543RM 7,900RM
333,574RM 8,673RM
366,533RM 9,488RM
366,533RM
Wealth (7%)
7%
Investments
3,600RM 252RM
7,632RM 519RM
12,687RM 842RM
18,292RM 1,184RM
24,476RM 1,546RM
31,623RM 1,953RM
39,457RM 2,384RM
48,017RM 2,840RM
58,267RM 3,388RM
69,435RM 3,966RM
81,571RM 4,578RM
95,952RM 5,310RM
111,556RM 6,083RM
128,448RM 6,901RM
147,778RM 7,840RM
168,669RM 8,832RM
191,205RM 9,879RM
216,844RM 11,081RM
244,473RM 12,350RM
274,198RM 13,690RM
306,132RM 15,104RM
342,216RM 16,724RM
380,969RM 18,433RM
422,533RM 20,237RM
467,057RM 22,139RM
467,057RM
EPF
(Employee)
11%
EPF
(Employer)
12%
3,960RM 4,320RM
4,158RM 4,536RM
4,990RM 5,443RM
5,239RM 5,715RM
5,501RM 6,001RM
6,161RM 6,721RM
6,469RM 7,057RM
6,793RM 7,410RM
8,151RM 8,892RM
8,559RM 9,337RM
8,987RM 9,804RM
10,784RM 11,764RM
11,323RM 12,353RM
11,889RM 12,970RM
13,673RM 14,916RM
14,356RM 15,662RM
15,074RM 16,445RM
17,335RM 18,911RM
18,202RM 19,857RM
19,112RM 20,850RM
20,068RM 21,892RM
23,078RM 25,176RM
24,232RM 26,435RM
25,444RM 27,757RM
26,716RM 29,145RM
320,255RM 349,369RM
Increment Promotion/
Job Change
3,000RM 36,000RM
3,150RM 37,800RM
3,780RM 45,360RM
3,969RM 47,628RM
4,167RM 50,009RM
4,668RM 56,011RM
4,901RM 58,811RM
5,146RM 61,752RM
6,175RM 74,102RM
6,484RM 77,807RM
6,808RM 81,697RM
8,170RM 98,037RM
8,578RM 102,939RM
9,007RM 108,086RM
10,358RM 124,298RM
10,876RM 130,513RM
11,420RM 137,039RM
13,133RM 157,595RM
13,790RM 165,475RM
14,479RM 173,748RM
15,203RM 182,436RM
17,483RM 209,801RM
18,358RM 220,291RM
19,275RM 231,306RM
20,239RM 242,871RM
Gross lifetime income 1,824,707RM
Year 1
Year 2
Year 3
Year 4
Year 5
Year 6
Year 7
Year 8
Year 9
Year 10
Year 11
Year 12
Year 13
Year 14
Year 15
Year 16
Year 17
Year 18
Year 19
Year 20
Year 21
Year 22
Year 23
Year 24
Year 25
Assuming you set aside 10% of gross income

15. Wealthprojection (25years)

16. KEYTAKEAWAYS: PRINCIPLES
Discipline DESIRE INSTINCT
“I really need to
tahan and just set
this RM200 aside”
“Ooo, not bad. Managed to save
RM1,000 already. Oklar, campak
another RM100 this month.”
“By now, probably got RM5,000 in
the bank di, can put into FD or buy
that CIMB stock.”

17. HOWTO Invest?
03
Where to get started?

18. Therearemanyoptions
● Cash (Savings, Fixed Deposits,
ANSB)
● Stocks/ Equity
● Unit Trust/ Mutual Funds
● Commodities (Gold)
● Cryptocurrency
● RoboAdvisers
● Property
● Businesses
INVESTING options

19. BUT Beforeyou invest,you
needcapital (seedmoney)
• Monitor your salary & expenses for 3 months
• Find the average & record a baseline
• Determine your net cash flow
(income – expenses)
• Set aside money when you get your salary
every month (not spend the leftovers)

20. BUILD AcashPORTFOLIO
3Accountsinyourmainbank
Emergency
SavingsACCT-2
SavingsACCT-1
FIXED
DEPOSITS
You salary comes here.
Set aside funds.
Leave only enough for you
to use for expenses
30% of X
comes here.
This fund is
untouchable.
When you have thresholds
of RM1,000 in Acct-1, open
an FD account 1-month
rolling.
When your cash portfolio is
strong, mix up your FD with
diff tenures/ amounts.
When reach min. threshold
open an FD

21. Fixeddeposits
Google “Best FD Promotions 2020”
Things to look out for:
• Minimum deposit
• Tenure (1m, 6m, 12m, 24m) *liquidity is
important
• Effective Interest rate.
• 2019 average was 3.15% (2020 anything
above 2.5% considered good).
• Fine print
Pro-tip:
• Open many FD accounts, don’t put all
eggs in one basket.
• Some 6 months, some 3 months etc.
• 1-month rolling is still better than
conventional savings acct.

22. How muchcashshould you have
beforeyou start investing?
4-6 months
float: salary
worth of cash
(Savings, FD +
Emergency)
+
Positive net
cash flow of at
least 10-20% of
salary

23. WHATYou’re building towards:
AMIXED asset portfolio
Never less
than 15%

24. GETTING STARTED: STOCKS (Shares)
1. When you buy stocks, you’re buying a piece
of ownership (equity) of the company.
2. You can only buy stocks of companies listed
on the Malaysian stock exchange (Bursa
Malaysia)
3. There are 2 ways to make money in stocks:
a) Capital gains in share price * You buy at
RM2,000 and sell at RM3,000 = profit
RM1,000
b) Dividends: Company gives you a
percentage of their profit. Can be annual/
biennial/ quarterly declarations

25. Howtochoose?
1. Only companies that have profits will give
dividends.
2. Look for blue chip companies that you
personally hold in high reputation.
3. General things to look for:
a) Are they making profits?
b) Do they have stable leadership?
c) Is their industry stable or facing market
challenges?
4. Technical details that can help:
a) dividend yield anything higher than FD is
good, higher better
b) earnings per share (EPS) compare
c) PE ratio (price earning) low means good
value, high means high growth expectations

26. Howtochoose?WHYMarket news matters

27. HOWTOBUY
1. Sign up for a CDS trading account. Most
banks have.
2. You have to buy shares in “lots”. In
Malaysia, one lot is 100 shares.
3. So, if share price of Maybank is RM8.08 –
one lot is RM808.
4. Pro-Tip: Dollar Cost Averaging (DCA)
over Lump-Sum Investing (LSI)

28. NEWINVESTMENT APPS

29. PROPERTY
1. Should I buy or rent?
2. Buy to stay or Buy to Rent?
3. To stay: Start small. Only buy if you can
maintain the loans. Ask friends for real-
estate contacts to get into deals early.
Look for attractive offers (no booking fee,
free legal etc.)
4. To rent: Location, location, location.
Check the rental market, is it worth the
price you’re paying for it? Potential of the
vicinity (development/ accessibility plans)
5. House prices have not declined, merely
plateaued. It might never come down.

30. Concluding
remarks
04
Keep it balanced

31. Takeaways
1. Setting aside is the most important
discipline. Most wealth is simply by
saving over spending and accumulation.
2. Look out for opportunities that will give
you an edge (Bumiputera privileges ,
discounts/ promo, connections)
3. Keep track. Use an expense app. Excel
for your bank accts and asset tracking.
4. #KeepingItBalanced. Money is not
everything, make sure you use it to keep
you happy too.
Money is worthless. What is of value is what you
exchange it for. So, “Splurge on the things that
money can’t buy.”

32. Q&AThank you!