Would you forgive him?

This is in conjunction with Father's Day. A typical family would have their father as the anchor of the family. He would be the one to provide a roof over the head for the family, put food on the table, protect the family from harms, handyman, problems solver, etc. He is the pillar supporting the family and without him, the family could have easily crumbled into pieces.

However not family is lucky enough to have such fathers. Even Barack Obama has got a irresponsible man as his father and he is calling for all fathers to be a responsible man. This is a post about such fathers and fathers to peoples that I know. There are two cases here.

Case 1.

K is my relative. He owns a trucks workshop. Financially he can be considered as rich. He has 5 children and a wife,P, who is a few years younger than him. When his children is still relatively young, the eldest was still in secondary school, i think his wife suspected that K is cheating on her. In order to win her husband back, P tried to slim down. But nothing was confirm and she did not really to slim down a lot. That was in the 90s.

And then some 3-4 years back, P discover about K's mistress. Whats more, they aldy have 2 kids. P went crazy. She cried non-stop and treaten to kill herself. It was so bad that they had to call K's mother and his brothers and their wives to calm her down. That was not the end of it. P went into depression and would sometimes follow her husband around to prevent him from meeting his 'other' family. Till today, things have not improve.

For information, K is actuall not a bad father. He loves his children. He is the one who will make sure the children get a good party when they are 21. His once gave his eldest son 100000, to start a business. His son got cheated in the end, but he never even scold him. He tried his best to provide to his family up till today. But no matter what he did, all his children are on their mother side. His eldest son and daughters especially, hated him the most. The only way they could forgive him is maybe to leave his other family. But how could he? He already has 2 children with his mistress.



Case 2.

My friend, S, was the 2nd daughter in the family of 4 children, with the only son being the youngest. When S was in early secondary school, her family was doing well. They run a coffeeshop. Business was good, each month they could earn a net profit of 7-8K (that was in late 90s and early 2000s). Her mom was the one who did most of the work most of the time, while the children will help out when they are home after school. The father will be there at the shop when he has the time as he also has other business.

When S reaches upper secondary, troubles start to appear in her family. Her father runs into financial troubles. To earn some extra income my fren start to give tuition classes. When she was in Form4, she teaches Form3 students. When she is in F5, she will teach F4 and F3 classes. In lower6, she will teach F3-5 and in upper six she will be teaching F3-6 students. She only teaches one subjects and she is really very very good at it.

S's father got himself and his family into more troubles when he borrows from loan sharks. They even have to sell off their coffeeshop business when she was in F6. Occasionally they got harrassed by loan sharks who will go to their house demanding money from them. S will be the who will chase these loan sharks away. Yes, S is not only smart but she is also very very brave and fierce. By that time the father is very seldom at home. And when he is home, he will sometimes hit their mother. They also found out that their father has another woman outside. Everyone in the family hates the father very much for his behavior and for getting the family into all this troubles. Everyone except S.

These was a very hard time for S. Ever since they sold their coffeeshop business, S is the only one supporting her family by giving tuition classes. She was the pillar in the family. Coping with all these problems at home, all her time spent giving tuition classes and trying to cope with her studies at the same time is not an easy task for anyone.

A few years passed and their life were now a lot more better. Her sisters are all working now. S and her elder sis are married and had their own children. Their father does not stay with them but would visit from time to time. Everytime, S and her elder sister would give him some money to spend though its not much. Others still hates him very much. One day, the father announces that he is now rich again. He had made a few millions from a deal. He told them that he will give their mother one million. However everyone opposes it because this would mean that he will be part of the family again. Although S do not really hate her father but she could not forget what he has done and she does not know if they should forgive their father and accepts him back to the family.

The mansion fiasco

Once upon a time in a land famous for its white coffee and pomelo, live a rich old man who earns his fortune selling taugeh chicken rice. He owns a big and luxury mansion where his two wives and two sons live in with him.

The eldest son, N, is smart and hard working while the other, Z, only love to spend time and money into gambling and girls. The rich old man had always mentioned that he wanted N to inherit his fortune. Then one unfortunate day, the old man had a heart attack and he pass away. He left the world without leaving a proper will.

Now, both N (son of the first wife) and Z (son of second wife) had never been on a good term. And so after the death of their father, both start fighting for the rights to the mansion. Initially N, being the son of the first wife and the eldest, assume control of the house and the family business.

But then one fine day Z suddenly rushed into the house and declared that he should be the rightful owner. He told everyone in the house that he had a dream the night before. In the dream, the dead father told Z that he wanted to pass his fortune to him. And so Z happily took control of everything and get his dogs to chased N out of the house.

N is of course not happy. He took the case to the court. At the trial, court found that N is the one who has the right to the fortune, not Z, as it was well known before the old man died that he wanted N to inherit his fortune.

But Z was not prepared to give up easily. So he appealed to the decision of the court. And not only does he makes an appeal, he also apply to the court that he be given the right to the fortune until a decision is made at the appeal. Court says ok. So for the time being, Z maintain control of the mansion and the family business.

As for now, everyone will have to wait till court of appeal comes out with a decision. Who is going to win in the end? Who do u want to win? N or Z? Why can't they allow sms voting to decide on the issue? Haih......

High time to refinance your loan?

"Two years ago, banks were charging home buyers base lending rate (BLR) 'plus' interest rates for their housing loans.

Today, the BLR for mortgages has fallen to a 'minus' level. In addition, then, the average BLR was about 6.75% which was later adjusted to about 5.55% currently."

The competitiveness in housing loan sector among banks has created a situation where the interest are so much more lower than what it used to be just more than 2 years ago. Read the statement above. It was taken out of an article from StarBiz (read the full article here).

To those of you who has taken a housing loan more than 2 years ago and you are still servicing the loan, you should really just go to your bank and tell them you want to refinance your loan. However, it may be difficult to make a choice on how to make the best deal out of the favourable condition of the housing loan market out there. To make things easier, I have made some simple guideline.

• If you are out of your lock-in period and are have principal balance of more than RM200K.

You are in the best position of all. There are so many interestingly low rates out there for you to choose from. Banks offer rates that are as low as BLR – 2.2%. But you should also look at loan provided by insurance companies where the interest rates are fixed, i.e. it does not depend on BLR. I heard that they are offering as low as 4+% for the whole tenure of loan which is very very low.

• If you are out of your lock-in period and are have principal balance of more than RM100K.

You are in a position where you can choose the bank which offers you the lowest interest rates. You do not have to pay any compensation for your existing loan and all banks are giving out loan with zero-moving cost. That means you do not have to pay any fees in getting the loan, saving you many thousands in legal and other costs.

• If you are out of your lock-in period and have principal balance of less than RM100K but your house is worth more than RM100K.

Most banks do not give out loan with zero-moving cost if the loan amount is less than RM100K. In this situation, you should consider refinancing with a loan amount of at least RM100K. I know many people do not want to owe banks more than they already have after paying so much interest to the banks in the past. However, do not worry about paying more interest to the banks that you have to because you could get a loan with a flexi account. To put it simply, lets say you have a principal balance of RM80K. You get a new loan for RM100K, u will have extra RM20K of cash. Just put the RM20K in the flexi account. The RM20K will reduce your principal amount to RM80K. You pay interest for just the RM80K, just like your previous loan but with a lower interest rate and the best thing is you can use the RM20K you have in the account in case u need the money.

• If you are still in your lock-in period.

In this situation, you can negotiate with your bank to get a lower rate. They will give you a better rate though it will not be the same as the market rate. Or else you will have to compensate them to save more in the long run.

So go and make a better deal for yourself now. Do not let the banks earn more of your hard earned money than they already are.

Driving lesson - Defensive Maneuver

You know how you are casually driving on the right hand side of the road, about to overtake a slower vehicle on left while listening to the radio or chatting away with your passengers or worrying that you are going to be late for an appointment, etc... 

And then....... 

You look at your side mirror, you see a car swerving right and left at a distance so close that it seems like he is trying to kiss the butt your car with his.

I'm pretty sure most if not all has driven in Malaysia, and especially on roads in KL, Penang, and Johor, would have encounter a situation as above. Its not only irritating to have someone following so close to you, it is downright dangerous and its intimidating! It spoil your mood of driving, chatting or listening to a good song and adds totally unnecessary stress to an already stressful drive in the city. Its at the top of most hated drivers' list.

But there is a way to counter this kind of driver. Since they have made your drive unpleasant, there is no reason why you should make theirs a pleasant one. This is what your can do, step by step instructions;

1. Remain calm. Do NOT panic, especially if you are a new driver.
2. Keep on driving at your current speed.
3. With you right leg at the accelerator pedal, use your left leg to very lightly (I repeat, very lightly, just enough to trigger your brake lights) tap on the brake pedal for about half a second to a second, the longer the better.
4. Look at the rear view mirror. Check if he is keeping his distance away from your car.

Executing this maneuver should be able to make him keep his distance away from you. If he doesn't, repeat steps 1-4 a few times. If he does not give up, then you can either ignore him or move to the left to let him overtake. 

Or if you are really really really angry with him, then just slam on your brakes. Let him knock into your car and you can claim from his insurance.

Having said that, it should be warned that maneuver of this kind should only be performed if you meet the following requirements;

i. You have more than 5 years of driving experience. 

ii. You are travelling at speed of less than 100kph. 

iii. This maneuver is performed in a controlled situation where no innocent lives of other road users are endangered. 

*If you are traveling at a faster speed or where there are other cars nearby, please do NOT do it. The idiot behind may not have the skill to control his car at such speed. He might ended up spinning his car and endanger the lives of other innocent road users.

Also, this does not mean that I would agree with driver who drive on fast lane at low speed. Please remember that if you are not overtaking, use the slower lane. Fast lane is only to be use if you are overtaking a slower vehicle. Even if you are driving at the speed limit allowable, it does not give you the right to keep to the fast lane if you are not overtaking. There are cars who will travel at speed above the limit. Though it is illegal, but sometimes there could be an emergency.

Bottom line is, remember that if you are not overtaking, always use the slower lane. If you are overtaking, and you come across a tailgater, then perform this defensive maneuver above in a controlled environment.

GPS system man would never, ever want in their car

The current gadget that many people are looking forward to have in their car these days are the in-car GPS system. However, do be very careful in choosing a system that suits you. Else you might regret parting with your hard earned money for it. Just like the one shown in the video below

Credit crisis for dummies

The world is now in economic crisis. It all started with the sub-prime crisis in the US, which in course caused the credit crunch which eventually brings us to where we are today. So what is sub-prime crisis and how did it happened? Belows are videos for financial dummies like many of us. Explained in such simple way, every Tom, Dick & Harry can understand how the financial world get themselves into this shit. 

And this is a very long video which explain how the monetary system works. Also a very simple to understand video made for those not from the financial world. It supported the theory of a new world order, a theory which our dear shadowfox very much believe in. Watch it and judge for yourself.

*I got to know about the videos from this blog

Don't let banks cheat you of your hard earned money

The Association of Banks in Malaysia has announced that all banks will reduce loan installment payment. For many people who have no idea how the loan works, it sounds like a good news for them. For they will be paying less to the bank every month. And according to the association they are heeding the government request to help borrowers facing difficult economy times.

Sounds good right? Government wants to help its rakyat, banks want to help reduce the burdens of their customers, and the borrowers can save some money every month. Everyone is happy. The banks are so nice to help their customers in this difficult time.

Bullshit! Banks will never implement any move that will not benefit them. They only know how to milk the most money out of its customers. This latest move only serve one purpose. That is for banks to earn more money from the interests borrowers pay for their loans.

As we all know, Bank Negara Malaysia(BNM) has announced the reduction in Overnight Policy Rate a number of times since late last years. In total, they have dropped a total of 150basis points. From a high of 3.5%, it has now dropped to 2.0%. Following BNM move, the commercial banks has to reduce their Base Lending Rates (BLR) which will in turn reduces the interest earn from loans to borrowers.

In order to offset the lower interest earned, what they can do is to prolong the loan tenure. Which is exactly what they are doing now. Borrowers pay lower installments but over a longer term. Some may argue that its just a small difference, its insignificant. Fact is, it is NOT a small difference. You might be surprise to know that the difference can easily run up to 5 figures.

So for those who has outstanding loan with banks, please go inform your bank that you want to maintain your installment amount. Unless if you are getting laid off or getting a pay cut, you should be able to afford the same amount that you are currently paying. Inform the bank as soon as possible. This is because the banks are implementing this to ALL housing loan, just like how EPF is inplementing the contributions cut to everyone.

It is very unethical for banks to implement this to every loan but I guess ethics are a non existing word to the bankers. And the bad news is, not only is BNM doing nothing to stop them but they are backing them most of the time. BNM is supposed to regulate these banks and protect the people but they are doing opposites most of the time. Just like how the banks are charging for every single thing possible at outrageous rates, BNM just sit down and do nothing about it. Banks are after all blood sucking leech who only knows how to suck the most blood out of its victim.

Btw, if your never notice yet. When BNM announce reduction in Overnight Policy Rate, overnight, banks will instantly reduce their rates of fix deposit. However the BLR will take forever to be reduced and of course, at a rate lower than the reduction in OPR.