Salary Survey

This is the survey done by the jobstreet malaysia by 3.5 milion database. I not sure how accurate of this survey. I think they are still have people higher than this salary range for the similar age and working experince. Ironically, they have people below this salary range.

In They are people earning less than this feature but yet still can life peacefully. How much is enough? RM 5K, RM 7K or RM 10K per month? Or RM 20K per month? Some people may earn less than you but he may have many money in his bank. The more you earn, the more you will spend and cause the need increase at each stage of the increment. If you earn 4K per month,but you just spend about 3.5K per month for your house loan, daily expenses, petrol and tol, and also entertainment, congratulation to you! You should be happy since you are not living with loan behind. And may be to you, additional increament will be a gift for you and as a tool to accumulate your wealth.

However, if you earn 10K per month but you try to live as luxury as you can, with buying tons of unneccessary high tech gic or stuffs, without any money left in your pocket, are you still consider rich? In this moment, you still complaining for higher salary.

If we look back how we survive during the school days, with limited pocket money, but we still live happily. When we come to work, and have salary and money, we start to increase our desire to have more things. This should be a good motivation for us to work better for better earning. However, if we over demanding our desires, it will be a time that we all suffer and complain about the salary.

My Salary Myth

Many colleagues thought that my salary is high. I think they must have miss perception on this. My salary is still within 4 digits Ringgit Malaysia. Nothing special about it. I do not have high salary such as up to 5 digits Salary per month. I just think my salary is just similar to the typical engineer with the similar experience. May be I am under paid.

I heard that people that within the similar age group of me are well paid up to several thousands USD who work in China or in East Asia. I also know that those people who is similar age to me may have my monthly income by several hold.

To me, as long as I live within the salary range, and yet still have some space to squeeze some portion of my salary to bank or investment, that is enough for me. I am not crazy in car or other fashionable stuffs. Although I know I may like to have it, but I also step back first and think deeply before I buy. To me, those stuffs will depreciate in two to three years time, and not worth to have it just to fulfil my 4th or 5th layer of need. The most fundamental things that we need is food and water. Those stuff just is an addition to your lifestyle.

May be my life is towards simple. Sometime I think that myself is over stingy on the daily needs. However, I will rewards myself with the hard work I done to saving the money.

Many people like to complain about the salary and seems like to compare to each others. To me, increament will not happen every year and it will be a bless if you able to get increament. No one know how good is my work. May be I am over rating myself and expect too much in the apprasial review. That is on how the higher management to judge on you whether you get promoted or have increament. If I could not get an increament, it may include the unfairness in the system, but I still need to consider why I am not deserve to have increament. In this world, nothing is secure. We need to help and improve ourself to beat the inflation. We could not solely depend on the salary we earn to sustain our life. The work we have may have the danger of being lay off. As long as we get preparation, life is still moving on.

Save Money Tips

1. Don't buy things you do not need
Sure, it's easier said than done, but sometimes you might want to forgo that extra bottle of soda or bag of candy at the supermarket exit, or anything else that won't benefit you in the long run.

2.Figure out what you need to save for and how much you need to save
For short-term goals, this is easy. If you want to buy a video game, find out how much it costs; if you want to buy a house, determine how much of a down payment you’ll need. For long-term goals, such as retirement, you’ll need to do a lot more planning (figuring out how much money you’ll need to live comfortably for 20 or 30 years after you stop working), and you’ll also need to figure out how investments will help you achieve your goals.

3. Set savings goals
Once you determine how much you need to save, establish a timeframe (i.e. “I want to be able to buy a house two years from today.”) Set a particular date for accomplishing shorter-term goals, and make sure the goal is attainable within that time period. If it’s not attainable, you’ll just get discouraged.

4. Figure out how much you’ll have to save per week, per month, or per paycheck to attain each of your savings goals
Take each thing you want to save for and figure out how much you need to start saving now. For most savings goals, it’s best to save the same amount each period. For example, if you want to put a RM20,000 down payment on a home in 36 months (three years), you’ll need to save about RM550 per month every month.

5. Add together the installment amounts (monthly, weekly, or per paycheck) for all your savings goals
Can you afford to save this total each period? If so, great; if not, proceed to the next step.

6. Pay yourself first
Savings should be your priority, so don’t just say that you’ll save whatever’s left over at the end of the month. Deposit savings into an account (or your piggybank) as soon as you get paid.

7.Keep a record of your expenses
Write down everything you spend your money on for a couple weeks or a month. Be as detailed as possible, and try not to leave out small purchases.

8. See where you can trim your expenses
You’ll probably be surprised when you look back at your record of expenses: RM 50 on ice cream, RM 200 on parking tickets and tol? You’ll likely see some obvious cuts you can make. Depending on how much you need to save, however, you may need to make some difficult decisions. Think about your priorities, and make cuts you can live with.

9.Reassess your savings goals
If there’s absolutely no way you can fit all your savings goals into your budget, take a look at what you’re saving for and cut the less important things or adjust the timeframe. Maybe you need to put off buying a new car for another year, or maybe you don’t really need a big-screen LCD TV that badly.

10. Make a budget
Once you’ve managed to balance your earnings with your savings goals and spending, write down a budget so you’ll know each month or each paycheck how much you can spend on any given thing or category of things. Try to leave a little room for minor unexpected expenses.

11, Stick to your budget
A budget won’t do you any good if you don’t follow it religiously. Build some self-discipline, and remember why you’re on a budget in the first place.

12. Open an interest-bearing savings account
It’s a lot easier to keep track of your savings if you have them separate from your spending money. Look around for the best savings interest rate that offer by bank.

13. Don't use your credit cards
This is one of the most effective ways to reduce spending. Use cash for as many purchases as possible - you'll be more conscious of what you are spending your money on.

14. Kill your debt
Simply calculating how much you spend each month on your debts will illustrate that eliminating debt is the fastest way to free up money. Once the money is freed from debt payment, it can be easily re-purposed to savings.

Money

Many people complain that they don't have enough money. The salary is low and the increment is hardly can beat the inflation rate in Malaysia.

To me, no matter how much money you earn, as long as yo don't know how to do a proper planning in your expenses and investment, you will hardly can achieved financial freedom. Everyone can have financial freedom although he is not rich.

There is an argument between rich and financial freedom. "If I am rich, I can have many things and don't have any concern in living." He may right for the first half. It is hard to deny that money is very important. However, if you are rich, you may end up to be poor or bankrupt if you don't know how to do a proper financial planning.

No matter how much you earn, as long as you live within the salary or earning ranges, you can be consider a rich man.

Many people seems to be rich, but they may spend their living using credit card or loaning from bank. In Japan, 71% people in the range of 20-30 who RM160,000 or below annually are living in poor. They have no money in hand at the end of the month, unable to pay the credit card and hardly can handle their electricity bill or cell phone charges.

To me, I consider I am not rich in quantity (I mean my bank account is not having more that 5 digits), but I still consider myself rich in quality. I always try to maintain my expenses are well controlled and still have some extra money for me to do investment or saving. I may just driving a local Iswara car, but to me, as long as it is convenience to me, I am satisfy. I have no big dream in driving the nice big car that need to have money installment more than RM1,000 per month. I cannot afford to have it base on my salary. I just live and spend according to my priority.

As long as we understand the money, control the money, we will not be the slave for the money.