Current BLR 2009

Base Lending Rate (BLR) is a minimum interest rate calculated by financial institutions based on a formula which takes into account the institutions' cost of funds and other administrative costs.

CIMB's Current BLR = 5.55%
The first time CIMB cut their BLR from 6.5% to 5.95% happened in 3 Feb 2009. Then another revised downwards from 5.95% to 5.55% effective from 02 March2009.

Other Banking Institutions BLR ..........

No.	Banking Institution	Effective Fr.	BLR (% p.a.)
1	Affin Bank Berhad	02/03/2009	5.50
2	Alliance Bank Malaysia Berhad	02/03/2009	5.55
3	AmBank (M) Berhad	10/03/2009	5.55
4	Bangkok Bank Berhad	06/03/2009	5.55
5	Bank of America Malaysia Berhad	01/03/2009	5.55
6	Bank of China (Malaysia) Berhad	03/03/2009	5.55
7	Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ (Malaysia)	06/03/2009	5.25
8	CIMB Bank Berhad	02/03/2009	5.55
9	Citibank Berhad	10/03/2009	5.60
10	Deutsche Bank (Malaysia) Berhad	03/03/2009	5.55
11	EON Bank Berhad	10/03/2009	5.55
12	Hong Leong Bank Berhad	03/03/2009	5.55
13	HSBC Bank Malaysia Berhad	02/03/2009	5.55
14	J.P. Morgan Chase Bank Berhad	03/03/2009	5.25
15	Malayan Banking Berhad	02/03/2009	5.55
16	OCBC Bank (Malaysia) Berhad	01/03/2009	5.55
17	Public Bank Berhad	03/03/2009	5.55
18	RHB Bank Berhad	02/03/2009	5.55
19	Standard Chartered Bank Malaysia Berhad	03/03/2009	5.55
20	The Bank of Nova Scotia Berhad	05/03/2009	5.55
21	The Royal Bank of Scotland Berhad	27/02/2009	5.25
22	United Overseas Bank (Malaysia) Berhad	06/03/2009	5.55

Source : Bank Negara Malaysia
updated: 06 / 03 / 2009

Budget 2010 highlights - Personal Concerns

Income Tax:

* Govt to reduce maximum individual income tax rate from 27% to 26%, personal relief increase from RM8,000 to RM9,000 in 2010

* Personal tax relief raised to RM7,000 from RM6,000 now for EPF contribution and life insurance premiums.

* Govt proposes individual taxpayers be given tax relief on broadband subscription fee up to RM500 a year from 2010 to 2012.

* Govt to impose 5% tax imposed on gains from disposal of real property from Jan 1, 2010. However,it will be retained for gifts between parent and child, husband and wife, grandparent and grandchild. This tax exemption will also be given on disposal of residential property once in a lifetime


Others:

* Govt to launch scheme for EPF contributors to use current, future savings in account 2 to get higher financing to buy higher value house or additional houses.

* Govt to issue 1Malaysia sukuk totaling RM3b, for Malaysian aged 21 and above. 3yr maturity, with 5% annual rate of return

* Govt proposes RM50 service tax on each principal credit card, charge cards, including free cards. RM25 for supplementary cards by January.

Car Insurance - NCD Calculation

No Claim Discount (NCD) is a discount given to the policyholders upon renewal of their motor insurance if no claim is made from the policy for 12 months. The discount given is based on a fixed rate provided by Persatuan Insurans Am Malaysia (PIAM) Motor Tariff.

Period of Insurance - NCD
After 1st year = 0%
After 2nd year = 25%
After 3rd year = 30%
After 4th year = 38.33%
After 5th year = 45%
5th year onwards = 55%

Tips:
* NCD is transferable to your new car or even you change the insurance company. The tactic is that you can buy a cheaper car and pay lower insurance premium for 5 years. When you have reached the maximum NCD (55%), then you will be able to save a lot for your luxury dream car.

Link for Private Vehicle Insurance Premium Calculator
http://malaysia.kurnia.com/Insurance/Calculators/Car-Insurance/Default.aspx

The Rule of 72

Everyone should know this basic investment rule. No excuse for saying that my school teacher never taught me this.
Rule of 72 is to help you estimates the amount of time to double your money.

72 / Interest rate = Years to double the money

For instances:
1. If your have $10K in wws2020/unit trust which give you return at 10% every year. 72/10=7.2 which means your money will double to become $20K in 7.2 years.

2. If inflation rates reported at 3% averagely. 72/3=24 which means your money will lose half of its value in approx. 24 years. If you are planning to retire with $1mil, you need to take the inflation into the calculation because 1mil today = 500K 24 years later. Now adjust your target to $2mil if you want to have $1mil worth Quality of Life (QoL) in 24 years later.