Philip Khor

The ironic thing is I work for a company called Investor Central. So day in day out, I look at how companies are performing, what stocks to buy, what news affect what industry / sectors. We also talk about Property and alternative investments once a while.

Personally though, I think investing is not for me.

Case Study A – Buying a RM 300,000 property

In KL, that’ll get you a decent 3 bedroom 1000 sqft apartment.

Assuming 100% loan (cuz you need furnishing, renovation, misc expenses), we’re talking of ~RM 1600 monthly payment over 30 years. Add up the instalments and we’re talking ~RM 580,000.

Whenever you wanna buy/sell, there’s always lawyer fees, utility deposits, and 101 things that can (and will) go wrong. Not to mention your precious time spent dealing with agents, contractors, prospective buyers. Even if you pay me RM 500 an hour of my time to deal with these non-sense, I don’t think I’ll do it! It is just too much hassle.

Renting a similar apartment in KL area costs only RM 1,300. Over 5 years, that is about RM 80,000 over 5 years in rental. Don’t like the place due to bigger family, switching demographics, bad feng shui? No problem. Pack up & leave. No repercussion. I think the renting scheme is definitely more flexible, less worry-some.

Flexibility

It gives the flexibility to pursue my dreams… working with Apple or Google. Things like that. Some say that when you leave the country, why not rent it out? Well, I’ve seen that happen, and the managing of the whole fiasco can be quite troublesome. In the end, minus expenses, you garner next to nothing.

Case Study B – Car Purchase – RM 40,000

Over a 9 year period that is RM 570 a month. Plus fuel, toll, petrol, servicing we’re looking at RM 1,100 per month average.

How to survive?

Today’s message in church mentioned something about staying in Malaysia; don’t migrate. The same theme and chorus Ps. Dr. Daniel (P. diddy) has been preaching for years now. I wonder when will change happen. When will we see a revolution?

>> Paperplane Pursuit – Forward

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