Investing needs knowledge. It needs research and understanding so that you will do the right investment at the right time, with the right price/cost.
I been burning my fingers when I tried to invest in shares. Since I was lack of experience, I always buy and sell share at the wrong time. The share price always drop after I bought and increase when I sold my share.
Investing in unit trust isn't as easy as well. Unit trust is always sold through agent. Even thought they portrait themselves as putting your interest as the forefront quest, most likely they are trying to sell you the unit trust that gives them the most commission. The profit is also not guaranteed. There is times when the return will be negative.
Leaving money inside bank's saving account or save as FD might not be the best solution. The interest provided by bank rarely higher than 4% per annul. That makes your money's value shrink year by year given that the inflation rate is around 3-4% around the globe.
Investing in ASNB is a good choice, especially if you have Bumiputera status in Malaysia. Having Bumiputra status means you can have maximum investment of RM 200,000 in Amanah Saham Bumiputera and Amanah Saham Bumiputera 2 account. You may also invest by ASN Financing which the bank will borrow a sum of money and you deposit into your ASNB account, which will generate more dividen (6-7% p.a.) than the interest charged by bank (3-4%). This rate is even better than buying a property and renting it out! Consider you don't have to manage the tenants and the property.
If you are non-bumiputeras, the only way you can invest is by buying the units when somebody sold it, as there is quota for the products that can purchase by non-bumis. However if you manage to apply ADAM50 for your child during the end of Najib's reign (year 2018), the maximum investment limit is RM 50,000. If you have stash kept somewhere with interest rate lower than 5% p.a., I suggest you transfer the money to this account, as the dividen yield at the worst year still pays out 5% p.a.
SSPN-i is a saving account manage by PTPTN. If you have a child, saving in PTPTN not only gives you 4-4.5% dividend p.a., you may also claim tax relief of RM 8000 a year. If both husband and wife files income tax separately, then it will be total tax relief of RM 16,000 a year. After deducting the tax relief, you may fall one bracket below and thus reduce your chargeable income and income tax rate. So the total earning is far more than 4-4.5% p.a. (Refer income tax rate here)
If you do not have a child or your child has grown older than age 29 years, you can only open account for yourself. However this account is not eligible to claim tax relief. But still the dividend is better than FD or normal bank saving account. However bear in mind that even though you may deposit into your SSPN-i account anytime, you may not able to cash out online. You may cash out your money at PTPTN Branches.
Lastly, I would like to talk about EPF. There is some instance that you are allow to withdraw EPF to finance your education, housing etc. However if you are able to get a loan for those purpose with the interest rate lower than 6% p.a., please use other loan instead of EPF as it's dividend still yields a surplus compared to loan with interest rate less than 6% p.a.
You may also invest with EPF, but make sure you count the service charges in. So that your interest or dividend yield is reflecting the real scenario, and from there you can compare with the EPF divident to see which way is more worth it.
Let me know what you think about those investment under the comment below.
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