Hello all! Thank you for dropping by at my blog where I jot down my way to financial independence (FI) and hopefully retire early (RE).
To briefly introduce myself, I am a Software Engineer grad, with no prior knowledge to finance, accounts or anything related to money to be exact. So how did I took interest in financial planning or have any thoughts about savings? The reason is I love money. Yup, I said it, I said it out loud. I love money, I mean who doesn't, right? Eventually this led me to think that maybe I really need to learn how to manage my money wisely so that I don't live on my monthly wages only and be able to do something more than just working at my 9-6 job.
Which is why I decided to share my journey and hopefully receive some sharing from people that have the same goal as I do! The best way to learn is always by sharing 😊
My very first encounter of investment was Fixed Deposits (F.D). At the age of 17, when I didn't have any access to other methods of investments, FD was the only one with "decent" returns and I can easily have access to. My initial investment was probably only RM1-2K at that age. I wasn't doing any part time during then, all my money was just pocket money from my parents. I get probably around RM 300 per month during my secondary school time, which is pretty decent for me. So all these money that go to FD are either from saving from my pocket money or angpau money during Chinese New Year.
I know you might be saying, only RM1000 into FD, the return is only maximum at around 3~4% (way before the interest adjustment, now the rates are much lower) for an annual. Which means I only get RM40 in return after 12 months, how is that considered as an investment? Well, it is still better than putting it in your savings account, and it's super hassle free to transfer your funds into FD nowadays with online banking.
Eventually I got from having only FD investment to P2P lending (Funding Societies), stock, crypto currencies and amanah saham. I wouldn't say that each of them went well, especially *cough* bit *cough* coin. But at least I get to learn a lot along the way and I am still trying to grow my portfolio to a better one.
What I found shocking was at the age of 23 - 25 many of my peers didn't really invest their money or at least start saving. Hopefully this blog will help young adults or even teenagers know more about financial planning and investment.
