Five Quick Ways to Bankrupt Yourself

Source:http://financiallyfit.yahoo.com/finance/article-110806-6784-1-five-quick-ways-to-bankrupt-yourself?ywaad=ad0035&nc
It's always been easy to go bankrupt but the recession made it that much easier, with 15 million people unemployed and struggling to pay their bills.

An astonishing 1.5 million people went bankrupt in the past year, up 20 percent from a year earlier.

"It's easier than most people realize," said Samir Kothari, co-founder of BillShrink.com, a site that helps people find the best, most cost-effective providers for everyday services like cellphones, cable, credit cards and gas.

"There is a general lack of financial discipline in the way people live their lives, manage their money and plan -- not that they don't do it well, but rather that they don't do it at all," Kothari said.

Remember the days when Intuit's Quicken and Microsoft Money software for managing your personal finances became popular? Millions of people bought the software, but as it turns out, they were used about as often as infomercial exercise equipment: Only about 10 percent of the people who bought it actually used it.

toilet_money_bucket_red_200.jpg
©Getty Images/CNBC.com
A how-to guide for bankruptcy, Step 1: Pour all of your money down the toilet.

"There was already a minority of people buying it to help manage their money -- and even those who bought it aren't using it!" Kothari said.

To help illustrate the point -- and maybe help a few people avoid becoming a statistic, here are five quick ways to bankrupt yourself:

1. Doing the Plastic Shuffle

The single best way to go bankrupt is to bury yourself in credit-card debt.

Our parents didn't have the option to rack up tens of thousands in credit-card debt -- credit cards didn't really become widely used until the 1960s. But for today's generation, it's an easy -- and common -- way for people to live above their means.

Transferring balances to a lower annual interest rate can be helpful if used sparingly, and in conjunction with a plan to pay it off, but chronic transferring often just masks a bigger problem.

"People think it will all just work out somehow. They think: 'I'll get a raise. I'll get a good tax refund,'" Kothari explained. "These things are not based on logic but on people being very optimistic about life -- defying reality. I think that's what gets people into trouble."

With the new credit-card legislation, lenders are now required to print on each statement the amount of time it would take to pay off the bill by only paying the minimum, and how much you'll ultimately be paying after all that interest.

"Imagine if you see that it will take you 17 years to pay off your bill!" Kothari exclaimed. "That should help shock America into realizing the trouble with living a reckless credit-card kind of spending game," Kothari said.

2. Assuming Insurance Will Cover Your Medical Bills

So, maybe you budget. You make an allowance for food, clothes, beer.

But do you have an allowance for medical costs?

Here's why you should: The No. 1 cause of bankruptcy is medical bills.

Harvard researchers found that 62 percent of all bankruptcies are caused by medical bills. Even more disturbing: 78 percent of those were people who had insurance.

"Things happen. Surprises happen," Kothari said. "And people don't prepare for the unexpected. They don't have a mindset of, 'How do I prepare myself for the unexpected?'"

Of course, the best medicine is to not get sick. And to that goal, you can do your best to lead a healthy lifestyle. But you also need to live a healthy "fiscal lifestyle," Kothari said -- make sure you're saving every month and building a cushion for the unexpected.

"Then you can be more resilient when life happens," he said.

3. Taking Out Advances on Your Paycheck

So you think just this one time, because you really really have to, it's OK to take an advance or loan on your paycheck?

Sounds like somebody needs a timeout!

If you need to get your paycheck money before it's due, there is some seriously fuzzy math going on.

"Payday loans are financial products that keep you in the poor house," BillShrink says.

When our parents were running short ahead of payday, they did things like split a can of beans for dinner and save the steak for when they're more financially secure.

These are humbling experiences but they build solid financial habits -- not to mention provide great stories they can proceed to repeat to their children 1,489 times throughout their lifetime.

Your parents' stories don't always work to scare you into managing your money better. But here's something that might: Fees on paycheck advances and loans make credit-card interest rates look like chump change.

BillShrink estimates that, when you factor in all the fees, the interest rate is 911 percent for a one-week loan, 456 percent for a two-week loan and 212 percent for a one-month loan.

4. Keeping Up With the Joneses

A huge part of the nation's money problems today are psychological: You see your neighbor, who you know doesn't make as much as you, just bought a luxury car.

How can he afford it, you wonder.

What most people often don't realize is -- he can't.

So you just sit there and think about how much you want it. You convince yourself that if he can afford it, so can you. And then, you just hit the breaking point -- and you buy it.

"There's a strong association between materialistic possessions and status," Kothari says. "Remember 'he who dies with the most toys wins?'"

From new houses and cars to the latest gadgets or exotic vacation destination, it's all very tempting to want to either keep up with -- or outdo your neighbor.

"People think that stuff matters to other people more than it really does," Kothari says.

Here's a statistic to keep in mind the next time you get neighbor envy: There are approximately 181 million people with credit cards in this country and more than half of them carry a balance.

So maybe next time you ask yourself, "How can he afford it?" you can also ask, "Is he one of the 100 million who carry a balance on their credit cards?"

And remember: Whatever you buy is on your credit card -- not his. Before you make a big purchase, make sure you've got the cash in the bank to back it up.

Maybe he should be keeping up with you!

5. Overestimating the Value of an Expensive Degree

The more education you have, the higher your pay, right?

Wrong.

When people take out student loans, few do the math to see what the average salary will be after graduation -- and how long it will take to pay off their loans.

They just assume that someone else has probably already crunched the numbers, making sure the cost of the degree is proportionate to the salary. They assume that because they've invested in education instead of, say, a new pair of shoes or golf clubs that their money was spent wisely.

Well guess what? Those people already got the first question wrong -- before even signing up for the class.

"The for-profit education sector is really, really big industry with huge advertising budgets," Kothari says. "They'll have a guy who says he graduated and now he makes $200,000 a year -- if you compare data on average salary, I'm sure it's not aligned with some of those marketing claims," Kothari said. "They're just selling a product."

So do your homework -- before you go to school.

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The 10 Biggest Myths About Gold

Source:http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704394704575496200661947896.html?partner=yahoofinance
Gold has been the investment phenomenon of the past decade. It hit a new high of $1,278 an ounce this week. In the past 10 years, investors in gold have made nearly five times their money. Over the same time, Wall Street has gone sideways.

But few investments seem to attract more myths and hokum than gold and other precious metals. At the risk of inflaming those on both sides of the issue, here are 10:

1. "Gold is overvalued."

As gold reaches historic highs, Brett Arends attempts to dispel some of the myths about the yellow metal.

How can anyone know this? Nobody even knows what gold is worth, so it's impossible to say with any confidence that it's overvalued (or undervalued, for that matter). Some perfectly intelligent people, such as Dylan Grice, a strategist at SG Securities, argue that when compared to the ballooning money supply, gold is still low by historic standards. And even if gold is in a bubble today, it may have a long way to go. As I've pointed out earlier this year, as our accompanying chart shows, at a comparable stage Nasdaq (1998) and real estate (2003) still had a couple of years to run.

2. "The smart money got out of gold a long time ago."

Really? People have been saying that for at least five years. Yet hedge-fund honcho John Paulson has got nearly $4 billion of his firm's money in the SPDR Gold Trust exchange-traded fund. George Soros has $650 million in the ETF. Every month Bank of America/Merrill Lynch conducts a survey of the world's top fund managers. About six years ago, when gold was around $400 an ounce, I suggested they started asking the money managers about gold. Initially they got few responses. Few cared enough even to venture an opinion. More recently, while interest has risen, the skepticism has remained. For the last two and a half years, apart from a brief moment in early 2009, money managers have pretty consistently told the interviewers that gold was overvalued, and usually by a wide margin. During that time it's risen from around $850 an ounce to nearly $1,300.

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3. Gold is a "safe haven."

Remind me never to buy life insurance, or a new set of brakes, from someone who thinks this metal is "safe." From 1980 to 2000, it lost more than four-fifths of its purchasing power. During the 2008 crash, it fell by nearly a third. If that's safe, I'd hate to see volatile. Gold is just an asset, like anything else.

4. "Gold is 'real' money, while money created by government or society is just paper or 'fiat' money."

What nonsense. The only thing that makes anything "money" is that other people—meaning "society"—accept it as such. A fund manager was recently telling me about someone she knew who bribed his way out of a crisis in Africa with bottles of liquor. She pointed out that, if society really fell apart, the best "money" would be the things people need—like food, cigarettes, and liquor. (My tip for Armageddon? Stock up on Charmin Ultra Soft. You'll be amazed how valuable it becomes when we're down to leaves.)

5. "Gold stocks are a more profitable way to invest in gold than the metal."

The most dangerous tense on Wall Street is the perpetual present. The reality: Gold stocks are sometimes more profitable, and sometimes less so. It all depends on the price you pay. For years, many big mining stocks were overvalued. The metal was a better bet. But during the 2008 crash, gold stocks plummeted even further than the metal. That left them an absolute steal. Anyone who bought the big miners at the lows has more than doubled their money in two years, and anyone who bought the small ones has quadrupled it.

6. "Small gold-mining stocks are risky."

Sure, any individual mining stock is very risky. (Even one like NovaGold Resources, which I recommended earlier this year. Proceed with caution.) But a broad basket of small mining stocks—such as that tracked by the Market Vectors Junior Gold Mine ETF—will be much less so. And indeed, depending on the price you pay, small miners will at times offer a much better bet than bigger companies or the metal. (See point 5, above.) Knowing the way the fund industry works, in a gold boom the small fry will probably be the last ones to get scooped up—suggesting they offer a leveraged play.

7. "Gold is a much better investment than other precious metals."

Really? Why? Once again, it all depends on the price. Over long periods, silver and platinum seem to have marched in the same direction as gold. Over 20 years, silver has beaten gold by 25%, platinum by 5%. But it hasn't been a steady move. At different points one metal has risen much higher, while another has been left behind. You could have made much better money taking advantage of these moves. There are now ETFs that invest in silver (iShares Silver Trust) and platinum (Physical Platinum Shares). You aren't always stuck with just gold.

8. "Gold is a great investment because it has kept its purchasing power over thousands of years."

Bah. It's hard to believe serious people repeat this. We can't even get reliable information from 50 years ago, let alone from ancient Rome. Did a toga under Caesar really cost one ounce of gold, the same as a man's suit today? Some claim it did. But what kind of toga? And what kind of suit? I can buy a suit for $300. There is a widely circulated claim that in the Bible an ounce of gold bought "300 loaves of bread." One hesitates to assert a negative, but I have looked, and I have asked informed sources, and no one has so far been able to produce the relevant Biblical reference. If anyone has it, please forward it to me. Furthermore, even if gold had "kept its purchasing power over 3,000 years," that would merely mean it produced a real, inflation-adjusted return of 0%. Inflation-protected government bonds will give you inflation plus 2%.

9. "Gold mutual funds are pretty much the same."

Not a chance. You need to look under the hood. Vanguard Precious Metals & Mining isn't even a gold fund anymore; Morningstar moved it to the "natural resources" category, because it invests in general mining and related activities as well. Most "gold" mutual funds don't even invest in gold itself, just the equities of mining companies—further evidence that gold is scarcely over-owned. Morningstar analyst Janet Yang says that two which invest in both stocks and metal are First Eagle Gold and Fidelity Select Gold. Other funds also vary in style. Oppenheimer Gold & Special Minerals, for example, tends to own a lot of smaller mining stocks, and to invest in silver and platinum miners as well as gold. U.S. Global Precious Minerals Fund focuses on smaller mining stocks.

10. "You should always have 7% of your portfolio in gold for security."

This has become a shibboleth. But why 7%? If the other 93% of your portfolio collapses, that 7% isn't going to help much, even if it, say, doubles in price. As usual, these things depend on the price you pay. Personally, if I thought the gold boom were going to continue, I'd rather bet by risking a smaller amount in high-octane, out-of-the-money call options on the SPDR Gold ETF or maybe the Market Vectors Junior Gold Mine ETF. Those give you the right to buy into the fund later at a fixed price if it booms. You only have to put a limited amount down. If prices don't move, or fall, you will lose that small stake. But if prices skyrocket, you can make many times your bet. As an illustration: SPDR Gold Trust is at $125 a share. The $150 call options, good until January 2012, cost $6.50 per share. Your downside is limited.

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Advice for the 'Poor Rich'

Source:http://finance.yahoo.com/banking-budgeting/article/110801/advice-for-the-poor-rich?mod=bb-budgeting
Everybody hates Todd Henderson.
In case you haven't heard, he's the University of Chicago law professor who unwisely blogged last week about his financial woes in a post headlined "We Are the Super Rich."

Mr. Henderson and his wife, an oncologist, make more than $250,000 a year, and apparently they're struggling to get by. If President Barack Obama gets his wicked way, and tax rates rise for those earning more than $250,000 a year, Mr. Henderson says it will mean real sacrifice in his family.

It's too easy to pelt Mr. Henderson with rotten eggs, as so many have now done. (He yanked the post, but way too late—and on the Internet, one's blunders never die.) But can we, instead, give him some useful advice?

Sure.

Adjust your expectations. "I can show you a client of mine right now who lives in a suburb of Chicago, he's a doctor, makes $350,000 a year, and he routinely racks up $25,000 on his credit cards," says Michael Kalscheur, a financial planner at Castle Wealth Advisors in Indianapolis. The reason? Too many people have "unrealistic expectations," says Mr. Kalscheur. They figure they should be vacationing in Italy, driving expensive cars, the whole deal. "We need to knock him upside the head. He's got to stop spending money." Every financial planner will tell you the same thing: The real challenge is tackling the psychology.

Refinance your mortgage. I have no idea how big and expensive your home is, but you can now get a 30 year jumbo mortgage at around 5.3%. Even on a $1 million loan that comes to $5,500 a month, and it's tax deductible. If your home is so expensive that you can't even afford it at these rates, you can't afford it. Sell it and move somewhere more affordable. If you're underwater on the mortgage, talk to the bank. Forget about "equity," which may not exist, and look at the cashflow.

Get a grip on your discretionary spending. Carry a pocket notebook with you for a month, and write down everything you spend. Get your wife and children to do the same. It will help you understand where your money is going. Almost every financial planner will tell you that this is invariably a huge eye-opener. As Jonathan Sard, a financial advisor in Atlanta, says, you may find you spend $100 in Target every time you go in for lightbulbs, or spend $300 taking your kids to a White Sox game. With everyone it's different, but you need to know where the losses are. If writing everything down is too much of a challenge: Junk the plastic, and just carry cash. This is instant budgeting. If you carry $500 a month, that's all you can spend.

Stop blaming the government. According to the Congressional Budget Office, a household earning $265,000 a year is in the top 20% in the country, and one earning $395,000 is in the top 10%. (The relevant thresholds are $190,000 and $290,000, respectively. And those figures were from 2007, a more prosperous time). So you're near the top of the tree in the richest country in history. At the same time, contrary to what you seem to think, federal taxes are not extortionate by modern historical standards. According to the CBO, families in the top 20% pay average federal taxes of 25.1%. The figure in President Reagan's final year in office: 25.6%.

Think about relocating. No kidding. It's not about how much you earn, it's about how much you get to keep, and if you are paying too much to live in an expensive town like Chicago, you may be much better off earning less somewhere cheaper. You and your wife both have highly portable jobs. According to the ACCRA Cost of Living Index, someone earning $350,000 in Chicago could get the same standard of living on just $230,000 a year in, say, Austin, Texas or Cincinnati.

Reconsider the investments. You say you're putting money into the stock market each month, even though you are paying off huge student loans. You need to do the math. If your investments are through a 401(k), they make sense: They're saving you taxes, maybe taking advantage of a company match. But if they are in addition to your 401(k) plan, they may not make sense right now. You are probably better off using the money to pay down that debt.

Rethink the two cars. Are you leasing them? How much are they costing you a month? This is one of the biggest ways middle class families blow their cash. I can't believe the number of people who think these moving white elephants are a status symbol. When I see an expensive car go by, all it tells me is that the owner is (a) insecure and (b) has no sense. These days you can get a decent set of wheels for a lot less than $10,000. Buy used. Pay cash. Run it till it dies.

Rethink the schools. You're sending your children to private school. But how much is it costing you? I take your point about terrible local public schools, but can you move to a neighborhood with better public schools? Or downscale to less-expensive schools?

Talk to a tax accountant. You say you're using TurboTax. With your income, you might benefit from some professional assistance. Are there deductions you can take that you're not using? Are you subject to Alternative Minimum Tax? Should you make your fourth quarter state and federal tax payments before Dec. 31? You may be able to help your financial position.

Go after all the little costs. You're hemorrhaging money. Get the kids to mow the lawn or do it yourself. Bake your own bread. Cook your own meals. Buy generic brands and bulk brands. Go to Costco, Sam's Club and other discount clubs. Junk the landline. Junk cable for Netflix. Rethink your banking: You're probably bleeding money through needless "fees" every month. Forget the "conspicuous consumption." Go for the conspicuous unconsumption. Brag about how little you spend. Find new ways to avoid spending money.

Oh, and one more thing. Never, ever, ever again blog about how hard it is to live on $300,000 or $350,000 a year at a time when one middle-aged man in four can't find a full-time job, and one in five can't find any job at all.

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Koperasi Wahida HPA-Info

Sumber:kowahida.blogspot.com
Pada 23.09.2010, Mesyuarat ALK Koperasi Wahida HPA Berhad telah memutuskan untuk membuka semula penebusan saham koperasi kepada semua ahli hpa yang belum mendaftar menjadi anggota Koperasi Wahida HPA Berhad dan anggota yang telah mendaftar sebagai anggota Koperasi Wahida HPA Berhad berkuatkuasa pada 24.09.2010, .JUMLAH PENEBUSAN TERKINI YANG DIBUKA ADALAH SEBANYAK RM 662,781.00Penambahan saham.

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Kalau Melabur Jangan Sampai Rugi

Source:http://www.pakdi.net/kalau-melabur-jangan-sampai-rugi/

“Di mana saya patut melabur?”

“Ok kah saya melabur di sini?”

“Adakah saya membuat keputusan pelaburan yang betul?”

Barangkali itu adalah persoalan-persoalan yang sering keluar dalam pemikiran kita semua apabila kita melabur, apatah lagi kalau kita baru hendak memulakan pelaburan.

Pertama, kita kena faham prinsip asas pelaburan yang paling penting iaitu jangan rugi. Pelabur yang bijak adalah pelabur yang tahu bagaimana untuk memastikan modalnya kekal. Maksudnya, kalau pelabur itu memulakan pelaburannya sebanyak RM 100, dia mesti cuba sedaya upaya agar nilai RM 100 itu kekal.

Betul, pelaburan juga datang dengan kos. Komisyen broker, ejen, guaman, spread, cukai dan sebagainya. Ini juga mesti diambil kira oleh kita semua. Maka, sekiranya sejurus selepas kita beli sesuatu produk pelaburan dan kita dapati kita tidak boleh terus menjualnya kembali paling kurang dengan harga kos, itu bermaksud kita dalam posisi rugi. Pelaburan kita telah rugi.

Justeru, kita perlu merangka plan pelaburan yang tepat untuk memastikan kerugian awal sebegitu dapat dikurangkan ke jumlah yang paling minima.

Di Malaysia, ada 2 penanda aras yang sangat sesuai untuk kita semua. Penanda aras yang dimaksudkan adalah:

1. Kadar pulangan fixed deposit (FD) / mudharabah di bank-bank yang ketika ini dalam sekitar 3-4% setahun.

2. Kadar pulangan Tabung Haji / ASB yang ketika ini dalam sekitar 5-7%.

Sudah tentu untuk individu yang mempunyai net-worth yang tinggi dan juga institusi pelaburan adalah dengan merujuk kadar pulangan bon / sukuk yang bertaraf AAA.

Instrumen kewangan yang disebut ini adalah instrumen kewangan yang mempunyai risiko yang rendah (secara umumnya). Justeru, modal pelaburan kita selalunya kekal dan kerugian tidak berlaku dengan mudah.

Jadi sekiranya kita mahu memulakan pelaburan di tempat lain kita perlu pastikan adakah kita boleh dapat lebih dari pulangan 3% di FD / mudharabah atau lebih dari 5-7% di Tabung Haji / ASB.

Ingat, RM 100 yang kita letak di FD / mudharabah membolehkan kita mendapat RM 3 dan menjadikan nilai pelaburan kita menjadi RM 103.

Kalau kita melabur RM 100 dan setahun kemudian nilainya menjadi RM 94 misalnya, itu bermakna kita sedang kerugian dan kita perlu menilai balik pelan pelaburan kita.

Harus kita ingat, sekiranya kita tidak berjaya mendapat pulangan melebihi dua penanda aras ini secara konsisten, maka kita perlu melihat kembali pelan pelaburan kita. Adakah kita telah melabur dengan pengetahuan dan kemahiran yang betul?

Adalah lebih baik kita meletakkan sahaja duit kita dalam FD / Mudharabah, Tabung Haji / ASB kalau pelaburan kita di tempat lain sentiasa rugi.

Ingat, prinsip utama ini sentiasa, jangan rugi.

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Tip Jika Terlibat Kemalangan dan Membuat Tuntutan Takaful / Insurans

Source:www.afyan.com


Sebelum Kemalangan (ketika mengambil polisi takaful)

1. Kita tidak tahu bila akan berlaku kemalangan, jadi ini adalah panduan ketika mengambil polisi takaful. Kalau kita tahu bila akan berlaku kemalanga, tentu syarikat-syarikat takaful terpaksa gulung tikar. Untuk panduan sebelum mengambil polisi takaful, boleh rujuk ke 9 Perkara Yang Perlu Anda Tahu Sebelum Memperbaharui Roadtax Kenderaan di dalam nota sebelum ini.
2. Pastikan jumlah perlindungan yang kita ambil mencukupi. Sebaik-baiknya, ambillah perlindungan berdasarkan harga pasaran. Sekiranya kita mengambil perlindungan di bawah harga pasaran, kelak akan menimbulkan masalah untuk membuat tuntutan. Contoh, kereta saudara sepatutnya dilindungi dengan harga pasaran RM 100,000 tetapi saudara hanya mengambil perlindungan RM 80,00 sahaja. Maka apabila berlau tuntutan kelak, saudara hanya layak 80% sahaja daripada nilai tuntutan. Sekiranya jumlah kerosakan RM 10, 00, saudara hanya layak RM 8000 sahaja, RM 2000 saudara terpaksa membayar sendiri.
3. Pastikan mengambil polisi perlindungan “comprehensive” atau menyeluruh. Jika mengambil “third party claim” atau perlindungan pihak ketiga, janganlah menyesal sekiranya berlaku kemalangan. Pernah terjadi seorang pelanggan saya yang mengambil polisi sebegini dengan dan berkata “insya-Allah tidak akan kemalangan”. Beberapa minggu sebelum polisinya tamat, keretanya kemalangan teruk! Janganlah ia berlaku ke atas tuan-tuan sekalipun hutang kereta sudah selesai. Beringat sebelum kena.
4. Perlindungan asas hanya untuk body atau badan kereta sahaja serta enjin. Ia tidak termasuk radio dan kaset, cermin hadapan atau windscreeen, additional driver (pemandu tambahan), bencana alam dan sebagainya. Jadi pilihlah yang sewajarnya. Dan semestinya ada premium tambahan untuk perlindungan tambahan. Umpama kita membeli nasi lemak. Nasi lemak biasa harganya RM 1.50, dengan ikan bilis, telur, sambal dan timun. Jika inginkan sotong, udang atau ayam, tentulah kita perlu membayar lebih, bukan?
5. Sebaiknya polisi tambahan cermin, kerana ia paling berisiko untuk retak dan pecah. Saya sendiri pernah mengalaminya; cermin kereta saya dipecahkan dan ia tiada perlindungan tersebut. (baca: http://afyan.com/ver1/pencuri-bodoh/). Ketika itu, Selepas kejadian tersebut, setiap kali pembaharuan pilisi, saya pastikan akan ada perlindungan untuk cermin, tetapi selepas itu tidak pula ia pecah ;)
6. Satu lagi perlindungan tambahan yang perlu ialah; pemandu kedua atau second driver. Selalunya ia diberikan percuma. Ia bagi memudahkan proses tuntutan sekiranya kemalangan berlaku ketika pemandu kedua yang membawa kenderaan. Selalunya pasangan. Jika tidak, seandainya pemandu lain yang membawa kereta dan kemalangan, prosesnya agak leceh dan kemungkinan akan dikenakan bayaran tambahan.
7. Perlindungan tambahan untuk bencana alam elok untuk mereka yang berada di kawasan-kawasan yang berisiko banjir seperti di Pantai Timur Semenanjung. Tapi sejak beberapa tahun kebelakangan ini, kawasan-kawasan bandar seperti Kuala Lumpur pun mengalami banjir. Malah tempat tinggi pun banjir; Kota Tinggi, Johor (orang Johor jangan marah ya..)
8. Ambil nombor telefon wakil atau ejen atau talian panas hotline syarikat takaful. Ia bertujuan untuk memastikan nombor-nombor ini mudah dihubungi apabila berlaku kemalangan. Ia bertujuan untuk memudahkan proses seterusnya kerana berdasarkan pengalaman saya, para pelanggan saya akan panik apabila berlaku kemalangan, walaupun sudah diberikan panduan umum semasa mengambil polisi. Jika tuan-tuan mengambil polisi takaful dengan saya, saya bersedia menerima panggilan tersebut. (Sempat lagi promosi tuuu….)

Ini pula adalah tip dan panduan ketika kemalangan berlaku, di tempat kejadian.

1. Pertama sekali, jangan panik.
2. Kedua pun jangan panik.Kerana situasi ini akan menyebabkan kita menggelabah dan membuat tindakan yang tidak sewajarnya.
3. Ketiga; jangan sekali-kali panik. Tip ini terpaksa diulang sebanyak tiga kali kerana sekiranya berlaku panik, 100 tip yang akan datang pun tiada berguna lagi.
4. Jika melibatkan pihak lain, elakkan berbincang (baca: bergaduh) tentang topik-topik seperti: “Salah Siapa”, “Aku Tidak Bersalah”, “Kamulah Puncanya!”, “Bukan Salah Ibu Mengandung” dan sebagainya. Sebenarnya perbincangan (baca: pergaduhan) tentang topik tersebut tidak akan membuahkan hasil kepada kedua-dua belah pihak, malah mengusutkan keadaan. Sebaiknya saling memberi kerjasama bak kata Wonder Pet, “Apa yang penting? Kerjasama!!”.
5. Sekiranya melibatkan kemalangan jiwa atau kecederaan fizikal, hubungi 999 dengan segera untuk mendapatkan ambulan. Sila simpan nombor 999 ini, walaupun saranan ini lucu kedengarannya. Sekiranya panik, nombor semudah 123 pun sukar untuk diingati.
6. Ambil maklumat semua yang terlibat di dalam kemalangan. Maklumat-maklumat seperti nombor kenderaan, nama pemilik, nombor telefon amat membantu untuk memudahkan untuk ke membuat tuntutan. Juga maklumat tentang syarikat takaful / insurans masing-masing. Beri kerjasama kepada rakan-rakan baru tuan-tuan di tempat kemalangan. Ingat kembali pesanan Wonder Pet!
7. Buat lakaran kasar tentang lokasi tempat kejadian dan lokasi kenderaan sebelum dan selepas kemalangan. Jika ada kamera adalah lebih baik. Itulah gunanya kamera di telefon tuan-tuan. Sekali lagi pesanan Wonder Pet digunakan di sini bagi memudahkan proses selanjutnya. Beri kerjasama kepada semua yang terlibat untuk mengambil gambar.
8. Ketika ini, akan tibalah berbondong-bondong lori tunda yang “menawarkan” janji-janji manis kepada tuan-tuan, sebaiknya elakkanlah. Pernah seorang pelanggan saya, akibat terlalu panik, menerima “janji manis” tersebut sekalipun pernah diberitahu jangan berbuat demikian ketika mengambil polisi. Selepas kereta tersebut diperoleh kembali, didapati beberapa bahagian yang ditukar dengan “spare part” palsu. Saya mengesyaki ia ditukar untuk mengaut keuntungan kerana kebetulan kereta tersebut kereta baru. Apabila ditanyakan kepada bengkel, katanya ia diterima dalam keadaan tersebut daripada pihak lain iaitu lori tunda. Dalam keadaan ini agak sukar untuk mencari pihak lori tunda kerana mereka menjalankan secara “freelance” dan bukan bengkel panel.
9. Sebaiknya hubungi syarikat takaful / insurans untuk mendapatkan lori tunda daripada bengkel yang bertauliah. Di peringkat ini, kerjasama daripada ejen / wakil takaful amat diperlukan untuk melicinkan proses.
10. Kemudian, laporkan kejadian tersebut kepada pihak polis dalam tempoh 24 jam. Pastikan balai polis tersebut adalah balai polis yang “menjaga” kawasan di mana berlakunya kemalangan tersebut. Saya sendiri pernah mengalaminya sendiri, kejadian berlaku di lebuh raya. Selepas keluar daripada exit, saya dapatkan balai polis terdekat daripada exit tersebut. Rupa-rupanya balai tersebut tidak boleh menerima laporan kerana tidak “menjaga” kawasan tempat saya kemalangan.
11. Laporkan juga kemalangan tersebut kepada pihak syarikat takaful sekalipun tidak berniat untuk membuat tuntutan. Ia bagi memudahkan proses tuntutan sekiranya ada selepas itu.

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Kadar pembiayaan rumah kekal 90%

Source:utusan online
KUALA LUMPUR 21 Sept. - Bagi memastikan golongan muda dan berpendapatan rendah mampu memiliki rumah sendiri, kerajaan membuat keputusan untuk mengekalkan pembiayaan rumah kepada 90 peratus.

Perdana Menteri, Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak berkata, kadar pembiayaan rumah itu kekal untuk pembelian bagi rumah pertama dan kedua sahaja.

Beliau berkata, kerajaan juga tidak berhasrat mengurangkan kadar pinjaman perumahan daripada 90 peratus kepada 80 peratus pada masa ini.

"Bagi pembeli yang sudah memiliki beberapa buah rumah dan berhasrat untuk membeli rumah lagi, kemungkinan jumlah pinjaman akan dikurangkan kepada 80 peratus sebagaimana dicadangkan," katanya kepada pemberita selepas mendengar taklimat Lembaga Pengarah Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) di sini, hari ini.

Beliau berkata demikian bagi mengulas cadangan BNM yang mahu mengkaji semula cadangan supaya bank-bank tempatan mengurangkan pinjaman perumahan daripada 90 peratus kepada 80 peratus.

Namun, cadangan itu mendapat bantahan daripada beberapa pertubuhan bukan kerajaan (NGO) yang melihat ia akan menjejaskan peluang golongan muda untuk memiliki rumah.

Malah, ada gesaan supaya BNM menangguhkan cadangan menurunkan nisbah pinjaman berbanding nilai (LVR) pajakan sesuatu hartanah kepada 80 peratus.

Dalam pada itu, Perdana Menteri berkata, kerajaan mengambil sikap terbuka berkenaan cadangan untuk membenarkan ringgit diniagakan di luar pesisir, 12 tahun selepas ia dihentikan.

Ringgit kini diniagakan pada paras tinggi dalam tempoh 13 tahun pada RM3.10 berbanding dolar Amerika Syarikat.

"Ringgit kita mengukuh seiring dengan asas-asas ekonomi yang menggalakkan dan ini tidak menyebabkan sebarang kesan teruk pada perdagangan dan pelaburan ke Malaysia," kata Najib.

Beliau berkata, kerajaan akan mengambil beberapa langkah serta mengkaji secara mendalam sebelum rancangan ringgit diniagakan.

Katanya, kerajaan sentiasa berhati-hati dengan langkah tersebut agar kesan krisis kewangan 1997 tidak berulang di samping menjejaskan nilai ringgit yang dilihat begitu kukuh ketika ini.

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10 Reasons To Buy a Home-Yahoo Finance

Source:http://finance.yahoo.com/real-estate/article/110685/10-reasons-to-buy-a-home;_ylt=ApNb62Jt0CnS2txcwUHdZwlO7sMF;_ylu=X3oDMTE5dmh0aG1oBHBvcwMyBHNlYwN3ZWVrZW5kRWRpdGlvbgRzbGsDd2h5YnV5aW5nYWhv?mod=realestate-buy

Enough with the doom and gloom about homeownership.

Sure, maybe there's more pain to come in the housing market. But when Time magazine starts running covers that declare "Owning a home may no longer make economic sense," it's time to say: Enough is enough. This is what "capitulation" looks like. Everyone has given up.


After all, at the peak of the bubble five years ago, Time had a different take. "Home Sweet Home," declared its cover then, as it celebrated the boom and asked: "Will your house make your rich?"

But it's not enough just to be contrarian. So here are 10 reasons why it's good to buy a home.

1. You can get a good deal. Especially if you play hardball. This is a buyer's market. Most of the other buyers have now vanished, as the tax credits on purchases have just expired. We're four to five years into the biggest housing bust in modern history. And prices have come down a long way— about 30% from their peak, according to Standard & Poor's Case-Shiller Index, which tracks home prices in 20 big cities. Yes, it's mixed. New York is only down 20%. Arizona has halved. Will prices fall further? Sure, they could. You'll never catch the bottom. It doesn't really matter so much in the long haul.

Where is fair value? Fund manager Jeremy Grantham at GMO, who predicted the bust with remarkable accuracy, said two years ago that home prices needed to fall another 17% to reach fair value in relation to household incomes. Case-Shiller since then: Down 18%.

2. Mortgages are cheap. You can get a 30-year loan for around 4.3%. What's not to like? These are the lowest rates on record. As recently as two years ago they were about 6.3%. That drop slashes your monthly repayment by a fifth. If inflation picks up, you won't see these mortgage rates again in your lifetime. And if we get deflation, and rates fall further, you can refi.

3. You'll save on taxes. You can deduct the mortgage interest from your income taxes. You can deduct your real estate taxes. And you'll get a tax break on capital gains—if any—when you sell. Sure, you'll need to do your math. You'll only get the income tax break if you itemize your deductions, and many people may be better off taking the standard deduction instead. The breaks are more valuable the more you earn, and the bigger your mortgage. But many people will find that these tax breaks mean owning costs them less, often a lot less, than renting.

4. It'll be yours. You can have the kitchen and bathrooms you want. You can move the walls, build an extension—zoning permitted—or paint everything bright orange. Few landlords are so indulgent; for renters, these types of changes are often impossible. You'll feel better about your own place if you own it than if you rent. Many years ago, when I was working for a political campaign in England, I toured a working-class northern town. Mrs. Thatcher had just begun selling off public housing to the tenants. "You can tell the ones that have been bought," said my local guide. "They've painted the front door. It's the first thing people do when they buy." It was a small sign that said something big.

5. You'll get a better home. In many parts of the country it can be really hard to find a good rental. All the best places are sold as condos. Money talks. Once again, this is a case by case issue: In Miami right now there are so many vacant luxury condos that owners will rent them out for a fraction of the cost of owning. But few places are so favored. Generally speaking, if you want the best home in the best neighborhood, you're better off buying.

6. It offers some inflation protection. No, it's not perfect. But studies by Professor Karl "Chip" Case (of Case-Shiller), and others, suggest that over the long-term housing has tended to beat inflation by a couple of percentage points a year. That's valuable inflation insurance, especially if you're young and raising a family and thinking about the next 30 or 40 years. In the recent past, inflation-protected government bonds, or TIPS, offered an easier form of inflation insurance. But yields there have plummeted of late. That also makes homeownership look a little better by contrast.

7. It's risk capital. No, your home isn't the stock market and you shouldn't view it as the way to get rich. But if the economy does surprise us all and start booming, sooner or later real estate prices will head up again, too. One lesson from the last few years is that stocks are incredibly hard for most normal people to own in large quantities—for practical as well as psychological reasons. Equity in a home is another way of linking part of your portfolio to the long-term growth of the economy—if it happens—and still managing to sleep at night.

8. It's forced savings. If you can rent an apartment for $2,000 month instead of buying one for $2,400 a month, renting may make sense. But will you save that $400 for your future? A lot of people won't. Most, I dare say. Once again, you have to do your math, but the part of your mortgage payment that goes to principal repayment isn't a cost. You're just paying yourself by building equity. As a forced monthly saving, it's a good discipline.

9. There is a lot to choose from. There is a glut of homes in most of the country. The National Association of Realtors puts the current inventory at around 4 million homes. That's below last year's peak, but well above typical levels, and enough for about a year's worth of sales. More keeping coming onto the market, too, as the banks slowly unload their inventory of unsold properties. That means great choice, as well as great prices.

10. Sooner or later, the market will clear. Demand and supply will meet. The population is forecast to grow by more than 100 million people over the next 40 years. That means maybe 40 million new households looking for homes. Meanwhile, this housing glut will work itself out. Many of the homes will be bought. But many more will simply be destroyed—either deliberately, or by inaction. This is already happening. Even two years ago, when I toured the housing slump in western Florida, I saw bankrupt condo developments that were fast becoming derelict. And, finally, a lot of the "glut" simply won't matter: It's concentrated in a few areas, like Florida and Nevada. Unless you live there, the glut won't have any long-term impact on housing supply in your town.

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DANA PELABURAN AL-HUSNA AGIH KEUNTUNGAN 18.20% BAGI TAHUN 2007

DANA PELABURAN AL-HUSNA AGIH KEUNTUNGAN 18.20% BAGI TAHUN 2007

4 Feb 2008 - Dana pelaburan al-husna yang diuruskan oleh bahagian pelaburan Koperasi Belia Islam Malaysia Berhad telah berjaya mengagihkan keuntungan sebanyak 18.20% bagi tahun 2007 kepada para pelabur.

Keuntungan ini diagihkan 3 kali iaitu untuk tempoh pelaburan Januari – April 2007 sebanyak 7.57%, Mei – Ogos 2007 sebanyak 7.08% dan September – Disember 2007 sebanyak 3.55%. Jumlah keuntungan yang telah diagihkan bagi tempoh setahun tersebut ialah sebanyak RM152,405.38.

Berakhir 31 Disember 2007, dana pelaburan ini telah berjaya dikumpulkan sebanyak RM1,031,753.00. Sepanjang tahun 2007, peluang-peluang pelaburan yang baik dan menarik banyak diperolehi oleh KBI di samping kedudukan pasaran saham Malaysia yang kukuh telah membantu KBI untuk membuat keuntungan melalui pelaburan ini.

Peluang pelaburan ini masih terbuka dan KBI amat mengalu-alukan penyertaan daripada semua umat Islam di Malaysia terutamanya anggota-anggota sedia ada KBI untuk melabur di dalam dana ini. Pihak pengurusan KBI akan terus berusaha bagi memastikan para pelabur memperolehi pulangan yang menarik melalui pelaburan di dalam dana ini. "
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LTAT

Source:http://www.ltat.org.my/webltat/index.html
1. Apa itu LTAT?

* Lembaga Tabung Angkatan Tentera atau singkatannya LTAT ialah sebuah badan berkanun kerajaan yang telah ditubuhkan melalui akta parlimen, Akta 101, 1973 bagi mengadakan faedah-faedah persaraan dan faedah-faedah lain kepada anggota lain-lain pangkat dan satu skim simpanan kepada pegawai-pegawai Angkatan Tentera Malaysia dan Anggota Kerahan Angkatan Sukarela.

2. Siapakah pencarum wajib?

* - Anggota Lain-Lain Pangkat Angkatan Tentera Malaysia.
- Kadar caruman 10% dari gaji bulanan + 15% sumbangan Kerajaan. Jumlah yang dikreditkan dalam akaun pencarum setiap bulan ialah bersamaan 25% gaji bulanan.

3. Siapakah pencarum sukarela?

* - Pegawai-pegawai Tetap Angkatan Tentera Malaysia termasuk Anggota LLP yang ditauliahkan.
- Anggota Kerahan Sepenuh Masa (AKAS).
- Kadar caruman minimum RM 25.00 dengan gandaan RM 5.00 sehingga maksimum RM 750.00 sebulan.
- Tiada sumbangan Kerajaan.
- Keahlian adalah secara memohon kepada LTAT.

4. Apakah faedah-faedah utama menjadi pencarum wajib dan pencarum sukarela?

* - Pencarum akan menerima dividen dan bonus tahunan yang akan dikreditkan terus ke dalam Akaun pencarum pada penghujung tahun.
- Dividen dan bonus ini dikompaunkan kepada jumlah caruman pencarum untuk menjadi jumlah caruman terkumpul.
- Caruman kepada LTAT tidak dikenakan cukai pendapatan.
- Khairat Kematian akan diberikan kepada waris bagi pencarum yang meninggal dunia semasa dalam perkhidmatan.
- Faedah Hilangupaya akan diberikan kepada pencarum yang diberhentikan dari perkhidmatan kerana kecacatan tubuh badan atau akal fikiran yang berkekalan.
- Pengeluaran caruman dilakukan secara sekaligus.
- Pengeluaran sebahagian caruman untuk menampung kos pembelian rumah atau tanah kediaman yang pertama.

5. Bagaimanakah dividen atau bonus ditentukan oleh LTAT?

* Kadar dividen dan bonus, jika ada, akan ditetapkan oleh Lembaga Pengarah LTAT dengan nasihat Panel Pelaburan, Aktuari Kerajaan dan Kementerian Kewangan. Kadar dividen dan bonus tahunan yang ditetapkan adalah berdasarkan kepada keuntungan pelaburan LTAT bagi tahun berkenaan.

6. Apakah faedah-faedah sampingan sebagai pencarum?

* LTAT sentiasa berusaha mengenalpasti faedah baru yang boleh mendatangkan manafaat kepada pencarum atau keluarga atau warisnya.

Diantara faedah-faedah sampingan yang telah diwujudkan ialah:
- Menawarkan anggota-anggota ATM/bekas tentera untuk membeli rumah-rumah kos rendah yang dibangunkan melalui anak-anak syarikat,
- Anugerah Kecemerlangan Akademik ATM bagi anak-anak anggota yang sedang berkhidmat (dengan kerjasama Kementah),
- Anugerah Wira Niaga (dengan kerjasama Affin Bank Berhad, PERHEBAT dan Boustead Holdings Berhad),
- Yayasan Warisan Perajurit (YWP) ditubuhkan oleh kumpulan syarikat LTAT, bagi menyediakan biasiswa kecil untuk kecemerlangan akademi anak-anak ATM bagi peperiksaan UPSR, PMR, IPTA serta biasiswa bagi melanjutkan pelajaran di University of Nottingham Malaysia dan bagi anak-anak bekas tentera bagi peperiksaan UPSR dan PMR.

Beberapa faedah sampingan baru sedang di dalam kajian pada masa ini dan akan diperkenalkan bila tiba masanya.

7. Bagaimana cara menjadi pencarum wajib?

* Anggota Angkatan Tentera Malaysia Lain-lain Pangkat akan menjadi pencarum secara automatik setelah mereka menamatkan latihan dan diserapkan ke dalam perkhidmatan tetap. Potongan caruman diterima oleh LTAT dari UGAT.

8. Bagaimana cara menjadi pencarum sukarela?

* Pegawai-pegawai Angkatan Tentera Malaysia dan Anggota Kerahan Sepenuh Masa(AKAS) boleh memohon untuk menjadi pencarum sukarela dengan mengisi borang yang disediakan . Borang ini boleh diperolehi secara percuma di Pejabat LTAT atau melalui kemudahan muat turun borang dalam Laman Web LTAT.

9. Berapa lamakah permohonan untuk menjadi ahli ini diluluskan?

* - Bagi pencarum wajib keahliannya adalah automatik apabila diserapkan ke dalam perkhidmatan tetap dan berkuatkuasa apabila potongan caruman dimajukan kepada LTAT oleh pihak UGAT.
- Bagi pencarum sukarela permohonan mereka diluluskan dengan serta merta setelah borang permohonan diterima oleh LTAT dan berkuatkuasa apabila wang caruman dimajukan kepada LTAT oleh pihak UGAT.

10. Adakah LTAT menghantarkan penyata tahunan kepada pencarum?

* LTAT mengedarkan Penyata mengenai caruman bulanan kepada pencarum-pencarumnya dua kali setahun melalui khidmat Hantaran Semboyan (KHS) dengan menggunakan kod unit yang dibekalkan oleh UGAT.

- Penyata Pertengahan Tahun berakhir 30 Jun menunjukkan caruman atau simpanan dari bulan Januari hingga Jun.
- Penyata Akhir Tahun berakhir 31 Disember memaparkan caruman kumulatif dari bulan Januari hingga Disember bagi tahun berkenaan berserta maklumat mengenai dividen dan bonus yang dikreditkan.
- Bagi pencarum wajib yang ditauliahkan penyata caruman akan dikirimkan hanya di atas permintaan pencarum berkenaan.

11. Bilakah caruman boleh dikeluarkan?

* Caruman bagi pencarum wajib termasuk caruman anggota yang ditauliahkan boleh dikeluarkan:

- apabila pencarum meninggal dunia; atau
- 1 bulan setelah pencarum diberhentikan dari perkhidmatan; atau
- pencarum mencapai usia 50 tahun.

Bagi pencarum sukarela, pengeluaran simpanan boleh dibuat pada bila-bila masa dan mereka diberi kelonggaran untuk menjadi ahli bagi kali kedua walaupun telah membuat pengeluaran kali pertama.

12. Bagaimana caruman dibayar balik?

* Apabila seorang pencarum layak mengeluarkan caruman atau simpanannya, bayaran balik itu dibuat dengan bayaran sekaligus.

13. Adakah LTAT mengambil masa yang lama untuk membuat pembayaran?

* Pembayaran dibuat dalam masa 24 jam hari bekerja setelah LTAT menerima dokumen yang lengkap dari Kementerian Pertahanan.

14. Berapakah jumlah yang akan dibayar balik oleh LTAT?

* Jumlah wang yang akan dibayar balik bergantung kepada keadaan berikut:

- Mereka yang berpencen akan menerima bahagian Caruman Ahli termasuk keuntungan terkumpul ke atas caruman mereka sahaja. Caruman Kerajaan beserta keuntungan terkumpul akan dikembalikan kepada Kumpulan Wang Amanah Pencen (KWAP). Ahli akan dibayar pencen bulanan oleh Kerajaan.
- Mereka yang tidak berpencen akan menerima bahagian Caruman Ahli dan Caruman Kerajaan termasuk keuntungan terkumpul bagi kedua-duanya.
- Hutang piutang kepada Kerajaan, jika ada, akan dipotong oleh LTAT sebelum pembayaran balik dibuat berdasarkan Sijil Penyelesaian Hutang Kerajaan yang diterima dari Jabatan Arah Urusan Gaji Angkatan Tentera.
- Jika pencarum diberhentikan perkhidmatan kerana hilang keupayaan akal atau jasmani yang berkekalan, mereka akan menerima bahagian Caruman Ahli termasuk keuntungan terkumpul ditambah dengan Faedah Hilangupaya. Caruman Kerajaan akan dikembalikan kepada KWAP.
- Jika pencarum meninggal dunia semasa dalam perkhidmatan, waris mereka akan menerima jumlah seperti pencarum yang berpencen ditambah dengan Khairat Kematian.

15. Berapakah jumlah bayaran Skim Khairat Kematian atau Faedah Hilangupaya?

* Jumlah pemberian di bawah Skim Khairat Kematian dan Faedah Hilangupaya adalah berasaskan satu rumusan (formula) yang mengambilkira:

- Lama tempoh perkhidmatan pencarum (diambil kira daripada tarikh keahlian pencarum di LTAT sehingga tarikh pencarum meninggal dunia atau tarikh pemberhentian perkhidmatan atas sebab hilang upaya.)
- Jumlah caruman terkumpul beliau.

Daripada butiran ini barulah jumlahnya dapat dihitungkan.

16. Bagaimanakah cara memohon mengeluarkan caruman?

* Jika syarat pengeluaran dipenuhi, permohonan untuk mengeluarkan caruman dibuat dengan melengkapkan borang LTAT/PWCA/14-2/1 yang boleh diperolehi secara percuma semasa menjalani Dokumentasi Akhir di KEMENTAH atau melalui kemudahan muat turun borang dalam Laman Web LTAT. Pastikan maklumat diri dan alamat pos yang lengkap dan tepat supaya penyerahan cek tidak tergendala.

17. Jika pencarum meninggal dunia bagaimanakah wang carumannya dikeluarkan?

* Penama atau waris pencarum boleh memohon untuk mengeluarkan caruman dengan menggunakan dokumen berikut:

- Borang LTAT / PWCA / 14-2/2 (Borang Kenyataan Waris) yang boleh diperolehi secara percuma di Pejabat LTAT atau melalui kemudahan muat turun borang dalam Laman Web LTAT.
- Salinan Fotostat kad pengenalan pewaris/penama dan lain-lain yang berkaitan.

18. Bagaimanakah pewaris atau penama mengetahui tentang caruman atau simpanan yang berada di LTAT?

* Pihak Penama atau Waris akan dihubungi. Oleh yang demikian amatlah penting maklumat waris atau penama yang kemaskini dimaklumkan kepada Jabatan Rekod dan Pencen Kementerian Pertahanan dan pencarum-pencarum diminta mengemaskini maklumat waris mereka di LTAT.

19. Adakah pembayaran balik dibuat dengan wang tunai atau cek?

* Pencarum boleh membuat pilihan pembayaran balik wang caruman LTAT seperti berikut:

- Serahan Kaunter - Pengambilan cek di kaunter LTAT
- Pos - Cek pembayaran diposkan terus ke alamat pencarum melalui pos berdaftar.
- Kredit Akaun - LTAT mengkreditkan terus pembayaran ke dalam akaun pencarum.

20. Apakah dokumen yang diperlukan untuk menunaikan cek pengeluaran dari LTAT?

* Kemukakan dokumen-dokumen berikut kepada Cawangan Affin Bank Berhad di mana pengeluaran wang akan dibuat:

- Buku Perakuan Perkhidmatan (BAT D 92)
- Kad Pengenalan Awam Pencarum atau waris/penama.

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LTAT bayar dividen, bonus 14 peratus kepada ahli

Source:http://www.utusan.com.my/utusan/info.asp?y=2010&dt=0211&pub=Utusan_Malaysia&sec=Terkini&pg=bt_38.htm

11/02/2010 7:56pm

KUALA LUMPUR 11 Feb. – Lembaga Tabung Angkatan Tentera (LTAT) akan membayar dividen dan bonus sebanyak 14 peratus kepada ahli yang layak bagi tahun kewangan berakhir 31 Disember 2009.

Dalam satu kenyataan, LTAT berkata, pembayaran membabitkan tujuh peratus dividen, satu peratus bonus dan enam peratus bonus istimewa dalam bentuk saham amanah, kesemuanya berjumlah RM575.2 juta.

Pada tahun berkenaan, LTAT mencatatkan jumlah pendapatan diaudit sebanyak RM554.8 juta berbanding pendapatan pada 2008 iaitu RM596.5 juta.

Pada peringkat kumpulan, LTAT mencatatkan keuntungan sebelum cukai sebanyak RM1.2 bilion pada 2009 berbanding RM1.4 bilion tahun lepas.

"Tabung itu terus memberi nilai positif kepada ahli dan keputusan mencerminkan falsafah pengurusan berhemah dan pelaburan strategik dalam aset teras.

“Dengan keadaan ekonomi yang semakin pulih, kami menjangka LTAT akan meningkatkan prestasinya pada masa terdekat ini,” kata Menteri Pertahanan, Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi dalam satu kenyataan.

Jumlah aset LTAT, tahun atas tahun, meningkat 4.2 peratus kepada RM7.5 bilion setakat 31 Disember 2009, sementara akaun sumbangan ahli meningkat 8.62 peratus kepada RM6.3 bilion. – Bernama

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Mortgage Refinancing Mistakes

Source:http://moneysmartlife.com/mortgage-refinancing-mistakes/

Mortgage Refinancing Pitfalls

Thinking about mortgage refinancing? You’re not alone, with some of the best mortgage rates available in history many people are debating whether they should spend the money and refinance.

The benefit of refinancing comes from borrowing at a lower mortgage rate so you can either lower your payments or reduce your loan term, either way saving thousands of dollars over the life of your home loan.

However, there are some pitfalls to watch out for; here are some of the mortgage refinancing mistakes you want to avoid:

Paying High Closing Costs

When you refinance, you are essential getting a new mortgage to replace your old mortgage. This means fees; origination fees, administrative fees and other closing expenses.

Many people simply pay them, adding them to the cost of the loan and reducing the savings benefit of refinancing your home. Instead, shop around and compare costs between various banks and credit unions. Check out this article on how to lower your home loan closing costs.

Not Getting a Big Enough Discount on the Rate

Many people refinance because rates have dropped but then find that the difference in the interest rate wasn’t big enough to really save them money. If there is only a small difference, the closing costs can erode the savings you are getting.

If you don’t stay in your house for five to seven years after you refinance, this small difference can actually result in you losing out over all. The generally accepted rule of thumb is that the new rate should be at least a full percent lower than your current rate, and you should be planning to stay in your home for a few years.

Waiting Too Long for a Good Rate

It is tricky trying to predict how low mortgage rates will go. In some cases, you might wait too long, and then find that you missed your opportunity. At this point, mortgage rates are unlikely to drop very dramatically again in the near the future. Waiting for even lower rates could mean that you miss out altogether.

Look at the current rates, and then look at your mortgage rate. If you will be saving more than one percent, it might be worth it to just go ahead and refinance now. Rates are not likely to head another full percent lower, but if they head higher, you will have missed out.

Cash Out Refinance

One of the biggest mistakes that people make with mortgage refinancing is to get a cash out loan. In this type of refinance, you get a loan for more than you owe. For instance, if you owe $170,000 on your home, but it is worth $205,000, you might refinance for $180,000. You pocket the $10,000 difference between what you actually owe and what you borrowed. (Of course, closing costs can erode what you actually end up with.)

Cash out refinances can be an issue for several reasons. First of all, you are adding to your debt. Another concern is that your cash out finance could put you above the 80% loan to value ratio, and result in the necessity of paying private mortgage insurance, which adds to your costs. Some people like to do a cash out refinance and pay off consumer debt, but if you are not careful, this could land you in even more trouble — especially if you just run up the balances on your newly paid credit cards.

In the end, it’s better to avoid a cash out refinance if you can, and just stick to refinancing what you actually owe on your home mortgage.

Written by Miranda · Filed Under Home Owner, Loans, Real Estate >Comments (1)
Waterproofing Your Basement Against Costly Damage

Basic basement waterproofing can be done for a relatively low price; much cheaper than the eventual cost of long term water damage that can result in your foundation and finished basement walls and carpet.

Basement water damage can take several costly forms and often the wet basement isn’t caused by water from a roaring flood but rather the slow and steady rain storms and thawing snow of the spring. The reason water can be such a nasty enemy to your home is that it’s relentlessly wearing away at the base of your house without you even realizing it. The good news, as I mentioned at the start, is that you can make some relatively cheap changes to help protect your basement walls and floor.

Water Management
Start off by routing the water from your downspouts away from your house to help maintain a dry basement. Splash blocks aren’t good enough, they still dump the water pretty much at the base of your foundation and it runs right back down to your basement. You can use metal guttering (around $9 for 10 feet) or plastic extenders (about $7 for 4–5 feet) to run the water at least 4 feet away from your house.

Grading
Ideally the area around your house was graded at the time it was built so that water runs away from your home. If you have areas where water pools near your house during a heavy rain you’ll want to get out there with a shovel or maybe a Bobcat and give the water a place to flow away from your house. Water that collects around the base will eventually find it’s way down into your basement. You can also add soil all around the base of your house to help prevent water from creeping down between the dirt and the foundation.

Sump Pump
Another weapon you can use to try and keep a dry basement is a sump pump. This is basically a pit in the floor of your basement with an electric pump in it. Since the pit is a low spot, the water collects there and the pump pushes it up a pipe through your basement wall and out into your yard.

Make sure the water from the pump isn’t being emptied right outside the wall of your house, run it at least 4–5 feet away so the water doesn’t run directly back down into the sump pit. If your basement is finished and carpet water damage is a concern you’ll also want to install an alarm on the pump to let you know if it stops working, and possibly even a backup, battery operated pump.

Newer houses are often built with a drain around the edges of your basement floor to channel the water all around the foundation into the sump pit, where it’s pumped up and away from the house. If you don’t have this drainage in place you might be able to add it but the sump pump and additional drains have left the “cheap solution” range and entered the expensive zone.

Next lets look at the cost of not waterproofing your basement and how that compares to the cost of prevention.

Foundation Damage

Your foundation is your main barrier against all the water that wants to seep, or rush, into your basement. If you don’t route your downspouts and water run-off away from your house the soil in those areas can become pretty saturated during extended weeks of rain. Since your foundation is resting on that soil, if the ground shifts, that puts can put pressure on your foundation.

For example, if you have downspouts dumping at either end of your house and those corners get soaked during spring rains, the corners of your house can shift down and cause stress and cracking at weak points in your foundation. Once cracks start to form, then it’s even easier for water to creep into your basement. Cracks in the foundation are certainly not cheap to patch, the cost depends on how large they are, which direction they run (horizontal vs vertical) and whether they’re on the inside of the wall, the outside, or go all the way through.

While keeping the soil moisture levels consistent around your foundation can help combat stress and cracking it can’t prevent it. As the ground freezes and thaws the soil will shift, which can also cause cracks. So the best way to keep the water out is to keep it away from your house.

Water Damage

If water does get into the basement one of the biggest concerns is mold. Mold just needs a little moisture and some organic material like wood, wallboard, or even dust particles to start growing. Getting rid of mold is not cheap if you have to hire professionals. When I called mold remediation companies for price quotes it was going to be $600 just to get an air quality sample done in the basement. Then if the sample comes back with high mold levels then you’ll have to pay even more to take care of it.

Wet carpet, pad, and wallboard are all prime places for mold to grow so even a tiny leak in your basement can be enough to start feeding a mold colony. Even if you divert the water on the outside, basements can be damp so running a dehumidifier is a good idea. Ventilation and the exchange of air in a damp basement can help keep the mold at bay.

Prevention is Cheaper

Problems with water leaking into your basement and basement mold don’t just pop up overnight. If you keep an eye on the sneaky moisture trying to soak its way into your basement and do what you can to prevent it you’ll certainly save yourself money in the long run.

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6 Things You Should Never Reveal on Facebook

Source:http://finance.yahoo.com/family-home/article/110663/6-things-you-should-never-reveal-on-facebook
The whole social networking phenomenon has millions of Americans sharing their photos, favorite songs and details about their class reunions on Facebook, MySpace, Twitter and dozens of similar sites. But there are a handful of personal details that you should never say if you don't want criminals — cyber or otherwise — to rob you blind, according to Beth Givens, executive director of the Privacy Rights Clearinghouse.

The folks at Insure.com also say that ill-advised Facebook postings increasingly can get your insurance cancelled or cause you to pay dramatically more for everything from auto to life insurance coverage. By now almost everybody knows that those drunken party photos could cost you a job, too.

You can certainly enjoy networking and sharing photos, but you should know that sharing some information puts you at risk. What should you never say on Facebook, Twitter or any other social networking site?

Your Birth Date and Place

Sure, you can say what day you were born, but if you provide the year and where you were born too, you've just given identity thieves a key to stealing your financial life, said Givens. A study done by Carnegie Mellon showed that a date and place of birth could be used to predict most — and sometimes all — of the numbers in your Social Security number, she said.

Vacation Plans

There may be a better way to say "Rob me, please" than posting something along the lines of: "Count-down to Maui! Two days and Ritz Carlton, here we come!" on Twitter. But it's hard to think of one. Post the photos on Facebook when you return, if you like. But don't invite criminals in by telling them specifically when you'll be gone.


Home Address

Do I have to elaborate? A study recently released by the Ponemon Institute found that users of Social Media sites were at greater risk of physical and identity theft because of the information they were sharing. Some 40% listed their home address on the sites; 65% didn't even attempt to block out strangers with privacy settings. And 60% said they weren't confident that their "friends" were really just people they know.

Confessionals

You may hate your job; lie on your taxes; or be a recreational user of illicit drugs, but this is no place to confess. Employers commonly peruse social networking sites to determine who to hire — and, sometimes, who to fire. Need proof? In just the past few weeks, an emergency dispatcher was fired in Wisconsin for revealing drug use; a waitress got canned for complaining about customers and the Pittsburgh Pirate's mascot was dumped for bashing the team on Facebook. One study done last year estimated that 8% of companies fired someone for "misuse" of social media.

Password Clues

If you've got online accounts, you've probably answered a dozen different security questions, telling your bank or brokerage firm your Mom's maiden name; the church you were married in; or the name of your favorite song. Got that same stuff on the information page of your Facebook profile? You're giving crooks an easy way to guess your passwords.

Risky Behaviors

You take your classic Camaro out for street racing, soar above the hills in a hang glider, or smoke like a chimney? Insurers are increasingly turning to the web to figure out whether their applicants and customers are putting their lives or property at risk, according to Insure.com. So far, there's no efficient way to collect the data, so cancellations and rate hikes are rare. But the technology is fast evolving, according to a paper written by Celent, a financial services research and consulting firm

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7 Spending Tips From Frugal Billionaires

Source:http://finance.yahoo.com/banking-budgeting/article/110550/tips-from-frugal-billionaires?mod=bb-budgeting
Carlos Slim Helu (Carlos Slim), a telecom tycoon and billionaire with well-known frugal tendencies, has a net worth of $60.6 billion, according to Forbes. Assuming no changes in his net worth, he could spend $1,150 a minute for the next 100 years before he ran out of money. To put this in perspective, he could spend in 13 minutes what a minimum-wage earner brings home after an entire year of the daily grind.

Granted, the world's billionaires (all 1,011 of them) are in the debatably enviable position of having, quite literally, more money than they can possibly spend, yet some are still living well below their means, and save money in surprising places. Even non-billionaires (currently 6,864,605,142 of us) can partake in these seven spending tips from frugal billionaires:

1. Keep Your Home Simple
Billionaires can afford to live in the most exclusive mansions imaginable -- and many do, including Bill Gates' sprawling 66,000 square foot, $147.5 million dollar mansion in Medina, Wash. -- yet frugal billionaires like Warren Buffett choose to keep it simple. Buffett still lives in the five-bedroom house in Omaha that he purchased in 1957 for $31,500. Likewise, Carlos Slim has lived in the same house for more than 40 years.

2. Use Self-Powered or Public Transportation
Thrifty billionaires including John Caudwell, David Cheriton and Chuck Feeney prefer to walk, bike or use public transportation when getting around town. Certainly these wealthy individuals could afford to take a helicopter to their lunch meetings, or ride in chauffeur-driven Bentleys, but they choose to get a little exercise and take advantage of public transportation instead. Good for the bank account and great for the environment.

3. Buy Your Clothes off the Rack
While some people, regardless of their net value, place a huge emphasis on wearing designer clothes and shoes, some frugal billionaires decide it's simply not worth the effort, or expense. You can find David Cheriton, the Stanford professor who matched Google founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page to the venture capitalists at Kleiner, Perkins, Caufield & Byers (resulting in a large reward of Google stock), wearing jeans and a t-shirt.

Ingvar Kamprad, the founder of the furniture company Ikea, avoids wearing suits, and John Caudwell, mobile phone mogul, buys his clothes off the rack instead of spending his wealth on designer clothes.

4. Keep your Scissors Sharp
The average haircut costs about $45, but people can and do spend up to $800 per cut and style. Multiply that by 8.6 (to account for a cut every six weeks) and it adds up to $7,200 per year, not including tips. These billionaires can certainly afford the most stylish haircuts, buy many cannot be bothered by the time it takes or the high price tag for the posh salons. Billionaires like John Caudwell and David Cheriton opt for cutting their own hair at home.


5. Drive a Regular Car
While billionaires like Larry Ellison (co-founder and CEO of Oracle Corporation) enjoy spending millions on cars, boats and planes, others remain low key with their vehicles of choice. Jim Walton (of the Wal-Mart clan) drives a 15-year-old pickup truck. Azim Premji, an Indian business tycoon, reportedly drives a Toyota Corolla. And Ingvar Kamprad of Ikea drives a 10-year-old Volvo. The idea is to buy a dependable car, and drive it into the ground. No need for a different car each day of the week for these frugal billionaires.

6. Skip Luxury Items
It may surprise some of us, but the world's wealthiest person, Carlos Slim (the one who could spend more than a thousand dollars a minute and not run out of money for one hundred years) does not own a yacht or a plane. (Reducing the amount you spend is the easiest way to make your money grow.)

Many other billionaires have chosen to skip these luxury items. Warren Buffett also avoids these lavish material items, stating, "Most toys are just a pain in the neck."

What We Can Learn
Some of the world's billionaires have frugal tendencies. Perhaps this thrifty nature even helped them make some of their money. Regardless, they have chosen to avoid some unnecessary spending (at least on their scale) and the 6,864,605,142 non-billionaires out there can follow suit, eliminating excessive, keep-up-with-the-Jones style spending. No matter what a person's income bracket is, most can usually find a way to cut back on frivolous spending, just like a few frugal billionaires.

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