Ramadhan Bakal Tiba

Bulan Ramadhan bakal tiba. Aku bertekad tahun ni aku nak buat sembahyang terawih tiap-tiap malam. Semoga Allah perkenankan.

Can you afford it?

Sources :
Posted on 6 October 2011 - 03:17am

Natalie Shobana Ambrose
INTERNATIONALLY acclaimed Suzie Ormon’s interactive TV segment Can I afford it? is hard hitting. A woman who doesn’t mince words, Suzie will tell participants who have been dreaming of doing or owning something if they can afford it or not. Expenses detailed, savings listed, the dream stated – and within minutes Suzie will scream DENIED, tell you off for lousy budgeting habits or reward you accordingly.

So in Suzie Ormon fashion and in view of tomorrow’s budget revelation, let’s see if Adam, a 25-year-old engineer living at home with his parents, can afford to live independently in Kuala Lumpur.

Adam earns RM5,000 a month. Once he is done with the basic contributions – tax and EPF – our version of superannuation, Adam’s take-home pay a month is slightly more than RM4,000. Now out of that, he needs to eat, clothe and house himself before he sorts out his wheels – just the bare necessities. Will Adam make ends meet?

Now this is a modest budget for someone like Adam who grew up in a middle-class family, enjoyed meals at restaurants, satellite TV, the comforts of living in a house with a small garden and not just room. On his salary and based on this modest budget, Adam lives in continual rising debt each month and has zero savings – nor can he afford a holiday, buy a computer or meet with any accident – hospital bills and car repairs would cost too much.
Furthermore, in order to afford property and the mortgage, he would not be able to eat in order to save for the 10% down payment and lawyer’s fees. With banks offering 30-40 year loans, Adam at 25 should already have a home loan with a 35-year tenure, meaning he would have to work until he was 60 to pay off that loan.
It’s proven that single people end up paying substantially more proportionally towards basic living costs compared to married people. So what happens if Adam gets married, has a child and his wife becomes a homemaker? How will he afford to feed two more mouths, milk formula, diapers, baby clothes, insurance, save for the child’s education, maternity care and the list does go on.

The face of Malaysia’s urban poor has evolved and now includes different segments of society. Imagine if Adam were on a tight budget, what other Malaysians earning less are living without. The experts and politicians say we need to live within our means and save 30% of our income. In Adam’s case, saving RM1,500 is next to impossible unless we cook the books and he stops eating. We can argue that he should take public transport – but our public transport system is not very reliable nor does it connect well – so Adam will be spending more time waiting for the bus that is either too packed or has missed a stop, then heading to the train station, and then taking a cab to work – all of which will cost quite a bit in time also. If Adam works late, or if torrential rains hit, he will be stuck.

Adam should live closer to his office, but the cost of real estate in the city is not at all affordable. We haven’t even discussed issues of safety, work-life balance and the occasional splurge, or say McDonalds.

If we do basic calculations – the cost of a Double Cheeseburger in Malaysia is RM6.55, while it costs US$1 (RM3) in the States. The cost of a whole uncooked chicken in England is £4 (RM20) compared to RM15 here. Now if we take the percentage of wage earned to cost of living, Malaysians bear a very high cost of living. The 2010 Prices and Wages report by Swiss Bank UBS AG states that Malaysians have 33.8% purchasing power compared to New York, and 42% that of London, 31.6% that of Zurich and 33.7% of Sydney. Imagine how much better Adam’s classmates working overseas are doing – and we wonder why the brain drain figures are so high in this country.

Now, how much more can Adam tighten his belt and live within his means if his salary doesn’t allow him to live independently. In the words of Suzie Ormon, Adam has been DENIED living on his own.

Who knows when Adam will be able to afford to live independently, provide for a family and look after his parents. Instead his aging parents who paid for his education so that he wouldn’t have a study loan to service, will have to continue supporting him if the cost of living continues to head upwards and salaries remain as they are.

In view of tomorrow’s budget, I’m glad it’s touted to be one that cares for the people. I would also hope that instead of just pumping more and more money from a deficit budget, greater efforts are concentrated on curbing corruption and frivolous spending, so that the real benefactors of the budget would be the people.

Natalie hopes this budget will live up to its promises and that Adam’s generation will be able to provide like their parents did.

Pandangan aku la kan, taraf hidup kat Malaysia ni memang tinggi. Gaji tak setimpal. Dan paling penting sekali, kekayaan hanya berlegar antara golongan tertentu sahaja. Renung-renungkan la..

"In the middle of every difficulty lies opportunity."



Albert Einstein


Sedang surf web terjumpa pulak kata-kata mamat ni. Walaupun dia ni Yahudi tapi tak salah kita manfaatkan ilmu dia. Kata-kata dia menarik perhatian aku. Kalau nak terjemah lebih kurang maksudnya, "disebalik setiap kesukaran, terdapatnya peluang." Teringat pulak aku dengan ajaran Islam, setiap perkara atau kejadian itu, ada hikmahnya. Jadinya aku ingatkan diri aku sendiri, cari la peluang atau hikmah atas setiap apa yang berlaku kat diri aku ni. InsyaAllah jiwa akan menjadi lebih tenang. AMIN.

Jawatan Kosong

Sekadar ingin membantu saudara-saudari  sekalian. Seorang kawan aku ada forwardkan info ni. Jadinya aku nak share la dengan sahabat-sahabat sekalian yang sedang mencari kerja. Ni bukan kerja sambilan. Lumayan tuuuu... Jangan marahhhh aaaaa.. nanti kena jual.

Nak cari kayu, nak cari kayu..

Selepas membelek surat khabar pagi ini aku teringat akan cerita lakonan Allahyarham P.Ramlee cerita LABU-LABI. Babak si Labu masa nak tidur kat beranda. Sebelum tertidur tu si Labu ni asyik menyebut kata-kata tersebut. Si Labu nak cari kayu, aku perlu cari apa ek???

Aku rasa dunia sekarang ni sedang mengalami situasi kemerosotan ekonomi. Aku pun bukan ikut sangat perkembangan ekonomi sekadar ambil tahu sedikit. Takde la jadi katak bawah tempurung lak nanti. Disebabkan pasaran saham kat US sedang menghadapi masalah, habis satu dunia kena tempias. Kesannya pasaran saham agak terjejas. Dalam surat khabar ada tulis, pasaran saham di negara Japan, Korea, Taiwan dan China ditutup rendah. Aku bukan pandai sangat bab saham ni. Tapi ini menunjukkan pasaran dunia tak menentu. Ini menguatkan teori yang aku jumpa sendiri, aku kena melabur lebih banyak dalam EMAS Itu la kayu yang aku kena cari lebih banyak. Sebagai simpanan masa depan. Aku dah buat keputusan, biar apa pun orang nak cakap, aku tetap pilih pelaburan EMAS. Aku bukan pandai sangat tapi ada la sedikit pengalaman semasa kerja dengan Maybank dulu dicampur pulak dengan sedikit pengalaman sendiri yang pernah jatuh merudum akibat kesilapan sendiri. Jadi pengajaran buat aku. Sekarang ni aku janji dengan diri aku, takkan aku ulangi kesilapan aku yang dulu. Cukuplah ia menjadi Ya Allah, bantu la aku hambaMu ini yang lemah. Kuatkan la semangat aku untuk berpegang pada janjiku ini. Amin. InsyaAllah, Moga-moga Allah bantu. Aku percaya Allah akan bantu kerana itu janjiNya.

Pengubat Rindu

“Jika kita rindukan Mekah dan Madinah, kedua-duanya tiada di Malaysia. Kumpul duit dan InsyaAllah pergilah lagi menunaikan umrah. Terubatlah rindu pada Kaabah dan Masjid Nabawi. Jika rindu dengan amalan kita di sana – rindu pada Allah -, marilah kita solat berjemaah di masjid. Itulah rumah Allah yang ada di Malaysia. Marilah kita solat malam….”.

Kata-kata yang dipetik dari seseorang yang saya kagumi. Beliau merupakan seorang yang amat dikenali di Malaysia kerana telah menulis sebuah buku yang "top seller" - Travelog Haji, Mengubah Sempadan Iman -

Beliau bukan seorang Ustaz, namun penulisan beliau amat mudah diikuti dan senang difahami. Amat santai dan bersahaja. Penulisan beliau berjaya memberikan kesan buat diri ini yang masih lemah imannya. Ianya sebuah buku yang saya rasakan amat perlu dibaca buat semua orang bagi mengenali diri sendiri. Banyak kandungan yang secara tidak langsung amat hampir mengambarkan diri saya dan pengalaman yang hampir serupa walaupun bulkan 100% sama namun sedikit sebanyak kena pada diri ini. Sememangnya sikap kita takkan lari dari apa yang diperkatakan oleh Prof. Mohd Kamil. itu la fitrah dan sifat manusia yang telah ditetapkan oleh Allah SWT. Tidak dapat lari kerana semua sifat mahupun positif atau negatif tentu ada dalam diri manusia. Cuma pembawakan yang akan menentukan identiti kita.

Okay lah. Cuma hari ini rasa bersemangat nak memulakan sesuatu. Telah agak lama saya memulakan blog ini cuma tak tau apa nak diisikan. Bacaan saya dalam satu entry Usaz Zaharuddin menjadi pencetus buat diri ini nak memulakan sesuatu yang mungkin agak kurang diambil peduli oleh masyarakat @ pengguna internet di Malaysia ni. Insya Allah saya akan story sikit dalam post yang lain.