• Learn how to detect accounting manipulation when reading financial statements for investing.
• Read how we finished off a 20-year home loan in 7 years. This guide comes with free download of an Excel financial model, the Home Loan Repayment Planner.
• Cut your next life insurance policy premium by 70% without compromising your coverage needs...if you know what you are doing. Read more on reducing life insurance premium.
• Preventing credit card mess with 12 amazing action plans. You will never fall into credit card debt again. Click here on preventing credit card mess.
• Learn how to protect your family financial security away from your business risks? Read more on Trust: a shield for family's financial certainty.
• Learn about investing in REITs
• Investing abroad? Read what we think about the opportunities and risks.

• FPM Home Loan Planner Release 1.0 for home loan calculation and planning of your home loan repayment.
• Return on Investment Calculator Release 1.0 for your rental property.
• A simple retirement planner based on conventional way of viewing financial planning. It is an ineffective paradigm, but it is interesting to try the exercise.

You will find a full list of online banking facilities, Islamic bankers, online stockbrokers, scholarships, insurance companies, unit trust funds, etc. in our financial directory.

We update our directory constantly. The financial information or references in the directory are specifically for those who live in or travel to Malaysia.

What is your biggest monthly expense that takes up most of your take-home income? If you are like most people, it is probably either your home loan or car loan repayment. With easier credits from banks offering various consumer loans, cash advances and credit cards, more and more people find that most of their incomes are expended to repay their earlier spendings.

This section provides guides on dealing with debts:

• Preventing credit card mess
• Home loan repayment strategy

This section is about living for the moment in a most effective and efficient way. It is not about delaying gratification; it is not about living like a scrooge. Having all these thoughts is like putting yourself into jail and one day the repercussion strikes in the form of spending spree.

We must first understand that living for the moment is not equal to spending. Many good things in life, if you count, are dirt cheap in terms of dollars and cents.

We will take it from here...

• A way of life: Saving, spending and living the moment
• Many couples seem not able to see eye to eye in managing a joint bank account. We are in favour of holding a joint bank account. It provided us the discipline to finish off our 20 -year home loan in 7 years. We understand the difficulties and we have solutions to overcome them. Read managing joint bank account

Get the principle correct first, it is not about accumulating assets, i.e. big house, big car, unit trust, etc. It is about accumulating assets(i), i.e. assets that generate sustainable incomes (rental properties, businesses, web sites, high dividend payout stocks, etc.).

These are the guides:

• Establishing criteria of stock selection
• Investing abroad
• Learn to detect profit manipulation in financial statements
• Investing in bond funds is safe for your retirement plan? You will be shocked to learn it could be otherwise.
• Understanding REITs in Malaysia. Criteria of a good REIT for investment.

This section is more than mere insurance.

• Using trust to protect your family's financial certainty
• Cut down your life insurance premium without compromising your protection needs

The best part to have money is being able to help those who are in need and being able to leave a financial legacy to our children.

For a start, check out our financial directory on charity organisations.

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Most of us believe it is wise to set such financial goals like sending children to college, planning for retirement, going on vacation, buying a new car, etc. So instead of drafting a financial plan that makes us rich and makes every big ticket item so affordable, we draft a plan that makes every big expense a goal. We live a life of the middle class struggling to pay for our insurance, our children's college expenses, a slightly bigger car, home loan, credit card debts, etc.

The ultimate financial goal is to be rich so that such expenses like children's college education are like buying movie tickets. You don't set a financial goal to buy movie tickets. Do you?

Read our breakaway wisdom of personal financial planning...

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Malaysia Police Detained Blogger

On 13th July, three MALAYSIA police officers took a blogger away from his office. Nathaniel Tan, an opposition (PKR) staff and a prominent blogger (Jelas.info), is detained at Bukit Aman (Headquarter of Malaysia's Police Force) to facilitate investigation under the Official Secrets Act (OSA). This also means he is probably being detained due to his political blogs or other politically related activities.

You can read more about this at Jelas.info, Bangkit.net, SOPO Sentral of Malaysia, Rocky Bru, etc.

Frankly, as a blogger myself, even though apolitical, I am pretty intimidated by my own government's act of detaining a comrade under this...what, Official Secrets Act.

It is important to tell the world that Malaysia Government is detaining blogger. If the purpose of such detention is to intimidating the currently growing movement of politic blogging regarding government of Malaysia...YES, I am intimidated.

So much so that I decided to tell FPM visitors and hopefully the whole world about our police action in detaining blogger.

Apolitical Financial Web Site

FPM is an apolitical web site. I don't like to write much about politics. However, at times the development of our political landscape and our legal system do post a threat, YES a THREAT, to our current lifestyles.

For instance, Lina Joy case transpires the incapability of our legal system in protecting one's constitutional rights. It is only this much I am willing to spend time writing about this case.

Recently, a friend of mine had taken a more active role in politics and more publicly vocal about his opinions. You can read more about Lina Joy case in his blog, Jonson Chong.com.

Using e*Trade?

Funny advertisement from e*Trade.

Stock selection criteria in a few sentences

It's been my ambition to summarize the entire fundamental investing philosophy in few sentences. This is my first attempt.

"Buy stock with growing real earnings per share and growing dividend at fair price. Sell stock only when the PE ratio is too high, in which expected EPS growth is not high enough to sustain the increase of price maintaining a reasonable PE ratio."

Behind such a simple statement, there are many ideas that need to be clarified.

Why real? How to know the reported profit is actually real? Can you actually differentiate real profit and fake profit by reading financial statements? (Yes, you can.)

Why EPS? Why not just about profit after tax?

Why growing EPS? What is the significant of GROWING earnings per share?

Why growing dividend? What is the significant of GROWING dividend?

Why price matter? Isn't it just about buy and hold long term? (No, timing and price matter. Isn't this obvious?)

I will add future posts explaining the above one by one.

How To Rob a Bank?

Have you ever wondered how on earth you can rob a bank and get away with the act? Don't risk your life. There are easy ways as Motley Fools UK shows us...

Personal Financial Planning: An Overview

Personal Finance A plan for life Young, free & single Married couple Happily single Retiring	Issues in life Buying a home Buying a car Getting married Chilren's education
Assets Building Human assets Paper assets Real estates Businesses Assets strategies Savings & expenses	Financing Credit card Home loans Getting a loan Getting out of debts
Assets Protection Life insurance Trust Special vehicles	Leaving a Financial Legacy Trust Will Assets arrangement Giving