the Magic of GST - reveal !

The 2 sides of GST are shown earlier, one is generally the consumer side who say NO, the other is the government side who say it will be OK.

The "magic" highlighted is everyone pay less and yet the government can earn more, how is that possible ?

• Tax payers will pay less tax
• Industries will save money
• Government can earn more money

First of all, the trick in that statement is 'tax payers'. zzzz has about 27 millions people, only 1 million is paying taxes. So the rest of the 26 millions people who are NOT paying taxes now will be affected once GST is on. Even your underage kid buy a candy tomorrow, GST would have been included (depends on at which level of the distribution channel). So you "MAY BE" paying less tax, but everyone else in your family will be paying GST. Thats why you pay less tax and yet government can collect more, from people around you.

Secondly, not ALL industries will save money. This is a lengthy strategical discussion but in short; industries who optimize and/or shorten their distribution channels will survive, while others who don't will be dead. ( assuming everyone play fair and nice ). So small boys will die off, big boys will take over their market. Who pay the government more money ? Yes, the big boys. So big boys grow bigger and government gets more $.

Lastly, government doesn't really earn more money, at least not now. You see, the biggest income of the country comes from petroleum and this natural resource is going to end soon ( in less than 10 years ? ) So where else can the government continue to get the money from ? Well, what is the biggest asset of a country ? Its people. So GST will diversify the country's income portfolio. In other words, a country that live on GST income is self sufficient ie. the people are keeping their own country alive. Sounds nice isn't it ? Again, assuming everyone play fair and nice ya.

The panic of general public is only valid if one day we lost the income from petroleum and the similar income is projected into GST directly. I haven't done any calculation yet but I wouldn't be surprise that will be equivalent to 80% GST. So what will happen in coming near future is the increase of GST almost exactly as how it has been done with our petrol prices. May be you will see a GST 95 and GST 97 story ?

Worry no more, the next article will share "what we could do" . . . but before that, we may have to talk about "a perfect world" in order to really understand "what we could do".



This article was suppose to be read in this sequence.

zzzz's GST - a MAGIC !

Secrect of the MAGIC revealed !

a Perfect World !

What can we do ?

the sides of GST

Actually GST is good, at least in theory. In practice, it could really go either way. And either way could mean good or bad for somebody and not everybody. This has already been proven in many countries who has adopted GST for ages. But one thing for sure, GST gives the government full Flexibility.

Now or in the past, it started with "I will tax this and that". So sales tax, service tax, government tax, custom tax etc. were introduced. With GST, it started with "I will tax everything" except those I give exceptions.

So system wise, GST is also better. Or in another word, GST is more systematic.

Most people may have known the devil of GST from many blog posts by now, but seriously if you look at the topic with a clear mind and NOT just from consumer point of view, you may realize those are really just purely speculation. However, it may still happen but when it does, it is because the consumers ourselves are making it happen. By thinking it might happen.

Interestingly however, not many people know the official GST info. What is the government thinking with regard to GST ?

• Tax payers will pay less tax
• Industries will save money
• Government can earn more money ( diversify income actually )
• GST will not impact inflation etc.

Got it ?

People who buy will pay less,

people who sell will pay less and

government will have more money.

Interesting or not ? its MAGIC !!

At the end, it really doesn't matter what the big boys are doing. What really matter is what affects you. So forget about agreeing or disagreeing with GST. IT WILL HAPPEN ! You may as well start thinking how to make use of this GST to turn yourself into a part of the HIGH INCOME GROUP.

For that, you may want to check out .... Exempted stuffs


This article was suppose to be read in this sequence.

zzzz's GST - a MAGIC !

Secrect of the MAGIC revealed !

a Perfect World !

What can we do ?

Old Post - Write Will For FREE

Pardon my long silence. I am back and starting to clear some of my old drafts. But once I published them, they stay in their own old timestamps and hence not easy to be found I suppose. Below is draft I created in 2009 but only get to release now.

How to write your own Will for FREE.

Below are my other drafts, I am no longer sure which is more important than which. Do comment if there is anyone you would like to know more.

Trust

zzzz 2011 Budget

FMB - Financial Mediation Bureau

AS1M Prospectus The price of AS 1zzzz unit is...

futures tutorial from Ino

Retire with Young Kids

It was already mentioned in last article that gett...

agent commission takes up a big chunk of insuranc...

Hong Leong Flexi FD

How to choose fund manager ?

Debt consolidation non profit - your savior in fin... case study, Loan

Getting Rich has NOTHING to do with Personal Finan...

zzzz Best Rates 2011 Feb 13 update

July 2011 Update is here

Fix Deposit

Honestly, after tracking the rates for years. Affin bank is the bank to go with if you want the highest FD rate. Be it 1 month or 12 months, just go with Affin bank.

Check this site often, I shall let you know when this trend changes.

Base Lending Rate

ALL local banks stand at 6.3% now with Bank of Tokyo and Royal Bank of Scotland offers the lowest at 6.0%.

Saving Accounts

Bangkok Bank offers 1.85%

Bank of Tokyo, Bank of Nova Scotia offers 1.75%

Don't forget you can get a simple widget

like above to show on your blog / web site.

Just visit here to see how.

Car Loan : NEW Car

Maybank continues to offer the lowest car loan rate starting from 2.7%. However, this is NOT a standard rate apply to all applicants. The actual rate can range up to 4.3%.

Bank Muamalat offers 2.85% for both New and Used cars but it requires an admin charges of RM600.

Car Loan : Used Car

Bank Muamalat offers 2.85% but requires admin charges of RM600.

CIMB offers 3.25% used car loan rate.

Don't forget Car Loan rate is Fix Term Rate

which is effectively a MUCH HIGHER

than variable term rate

like House Loan and Fix Deposit.

House Loan

There are too many factors in considering a good house loan, so we don't think its fair to simply summarize them here.

Our advice is to source for at least 3 offers, preferably a mix of local and foreign banks.

Budgeting and Financial Management

Budget is one of the very first topics in Personal Finance.

Many may think budget is about control expenses but the true meaning of budget is to PLAN AHEAD. Although they may mean the same thing but actually it will leave a very different psychological effect.

At one hand, one is focusing on 'expenses'. Controlling implicitly mean NOT to over spend it. This creates an internal conflict of "I want it but I can't have it". Whenever a control fails, its due to lack of discipline. The resolution is to control it better which is enforcing discipline. Enforcing discipline on a person who naturally does not have discipline is the internal conflict mentioned earlier.

On the other hand, PLAN AHEAD would simply imply "I want it and I will get it". This is more target oriented and positive minded. Whenever a plan didn't materialize, one would have to plan better; as in "how else can I get what I want". This may further enhance one's creativity.

To control or to plan ahead,

its your choice of words.

If budgeting is the beginning of personal finance, the other end would be Financial Management; as in fine tuning her very own portfolio.

At a personal finance level, financial management would typically focus on increasing cash flow and net worth. However, there are 1001 finance tools out there. So there is really no one single portfolio that suits all. Everyone will have his own skills and preferences.

Personal Finance Portfolio should be dynamic

We often hear experts said

if you are young, you can take more risk, hence put your investment in equity.

then

if you are old, you should keep your capital in safer vehicle like bond etc.

But one important strategy they miss out is ... the dynamic of personal finance portfolio.

Says you are 25 years old, you will need a sum of money at 35 years old. Hence you can invest into equity. However, you must learn something about the equity market you are entering into. For example, you know that for every 10 years in your equity market, there will be a peak and a bottom. So perhaps by 3-4 years before your maturity date, ie. 31-32 years old. You should start considering withdrawing your equity investment and keep them in a money market or bond fund. This will preserve your capital and secure you from unexpected last minute change, ie. a sudden equity collapse.

for example;

age 25 : 90% equity, 10% bond

age 27 : 80% equity, 20% bond

age 32 : 40% equity, 60% bond

age 34 : 10% equity, 90% bond

Keeping a non dynamic portfolio expose you to risk the whole time. If bad luck hits you, you may lost all your 9 years of earning in the 10th year. So one must keep ones personal finance portfolio dynamic.

value for money - linear or exponential ?

Value for Money ( short for V4M ) is basically how much values you get from the money you paid. It is often irrelevant how much is the price of an item or service. Whether or not a person pay for something is simply because of how he perceives the values he is getting.

If a person perceive values more than its price, he would paid for it !

If a person perceive values less than the price, he would NOT paid for it.

There are 3 types of V4M perceptions. This article will cover 2.

Linear model of V4M is basically thinking all features are alike. Hence for every feature the person is looking for, he would be willing to pay some price for it. But if a particular feature is substantially higher price, he would think its NOT worth it.

For example, a person is looking for a phone that has Wifi feature and cool-look feature. A typical wifi phone may cost him $500, a cool looking wifi phone may cost $2,000. A linear V4M guy will go for the typical Wifi phone.

Exponential type of V4M model describes a person who values most on perfection. He understands that many providers can easily give an average services / products but it is very rare for a provider to provide a perfect solution. Hence he is willing to pay any price for one particular feature especially when such feature is not easily available elsewhere.

An exponential V4M guy would have go for the cool looking wifi phone as per above example.

One will always find Linear V4M guy a FRUGAL person. He analyses well before making a purchase. He may go for 2nd hand goods as long as they still work well. Such a person is always the next door millionaires whom you never knew.

Exponential V4M guy on the other hand is the high society type of person. The only way he can sustain his life style is by being filthy rich. His perception on values is also the main driving force for him to stay rich. Such a person is always a very high cash flow fellow but often unable to retain a net profit.

There is no right or wrong in either V4M models. But it is important for you to recognize your own V4M model and then focus on living that life. Problems arise when an exponential V4M model guy thinks he is frugal OR when a linear v4M model guy keeps over pay.

What is your V4M model ?