I have so much to share about my financial experiences and I’m sure you do too. 2008 had been a helluva ride, and 2009 even more. I hope you’ll join me online again and we’ll check out what’s out there and see if we’re one step closer to that million!

The hard thing was, for the past couple of days, was to compare hosting plans. So, I’ve decided to give a little insight to those who was like me, trying to decide which hosting to go to.

1. Price. To me, this is the most important. It’s like buying everything else, you have to have a budget. Set a range of acceptable price first, if you don’t know, ask a couple of your friends or family. Once you have a range, then it’ll be easier to shop. In my case, my range was between RM 50 – RM 150. You’ll get plenty of choices that fall in that range.

2. Specifications. Once you have a list of hosting packages from different hosting provider, you’ll pretty much be able to list down the specification of the hosting package. To me, the three most important spec are the Disk Space, Memory, and Bandwidth. This can be vastly different from one hosting to another.

3. Reliability & Support. I’m not running a multi-national business or anything that gives out thousands of ringgit in return, so I put this as number 3. For some websites that generates cash by the minute, this could be their top priority. How to decide on reliability and support? Just google and read the customer’s review. That should give you enough idea on how reliable the service is. According to webhosting.info, Exabytes seems to have the larges market share in Malaysia, so that should say how reliable their servers are.

4. Extras. Extras to me mean, what I don’t need but would like to have. My extras was, number of add-on domains, promotional free stuff, coupons, etc.

So with that, I managed to compile a short list of hosting sites for you to look at. The list is short cuz I got tired trying to decide after looking at the 20th hosting site. I’ve decided to go with DataKL. So far, the service has been prompt (I get replies to my questions via email within 10 minutes), the setup was easy (I was moving from a cPanel to another cPanel), and the payment was a breeze.

Good luck!

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So, I’ll catch you later while I get the other hosting up. Wish me luck!

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Basically, you can open an OD account using ASB certificate as your collateral. Since OD has a much lower interest rate than credit card, it can help you to consolidate your credit card balances into one account. OD interest is calculated daily, so, knowing when to pay your bills helps to minimize the interest incurred. Also, OD interest is only charged based on the amount you used, unlike Personal Loan, where you are charged on the total amount of loan you take up.

I don’t recommend using OD if you are not able to micro manage your finances. It is however, very useful, if you have plenty of credit card debt where interest is as high as 18% p.a. or other high interest debt, while OD charges much less interest. It is also useful if you would like to use it as a platform for other investments such as property, among other things.

More reading about OverDraft (OD)/ASB facility here:

http://www.bicarajutawan.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1085

http://www.rhbbank.com.my/loans/asb_loan.shtm

http://futurefinancial.blogspot.com/2007/05/some-financial-tools.html

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Fortunately, my motivation to push myself is much stronger than those voices whispering in my ears telling me to just turn off the computer and go to bed. And if it wasn’t for my anal obsessive compulsive behavior to get everything perfect, from getting the right sizes for each images and the right font size and color, or the right height for all banners and all sorts of other kinks that makes my online store mine, the store would have probably gone online as we speak.

To answer the initial question, it will go online very soon. It’s just a matter of data entry and hopefully, I don’t get too creative anytime soon. We have to test the market, to see if this idea will work. If it does, then all those sleepless nights were worth it after-all.

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1. Register your domain. A domain is like an address in the web. Sometimes, the address you want is already taken up, so you have to shop around. How do you find out if a domain is already taken? You can check here: http://www.google.com/a

Cheapest price I found was USD 6.95. I couldn’t find anything cheaper than that from Malaysia. Average I found was RM 50. But if you want a domain with an extension .my (e.g. http://www.fara.com.my), then you’ll probably have to buy it from the domain registrars in Malaysia.

2. Most domain registrars have hosting packages which you can choose from. Most hosting cost about USD 5.95 or more. There are also free hosting available. I opted for free hosting from http://www.freewebhosting247.com. I’ve blogged about this before here. If you opt for free hosting, I suggest you backup your files often because you’ll never know if the hosting is going to be free forever.

3. If you’re using Blogger, you can point your already existing blog to your new domain for FREE. If you’re using WordPress like me and have been blogging from WordPress.com, you have to purchase WordPress ‘credits’ to enable the service. Instead, I installed WordPress code which is available for FREE from WordPress.org. What’s the difference between WordPress.com and WordPress.org? Read here.

4. I had to install several plugins and themes and tweak it to get it to the blog I wanted. This is a bit tricky. I suppose you don’t need programming skills to do this, but it helps. I don’t have any programming background, but I did some HTML when I was in college (gosh, I feel old), so, that should give you some idea on how easy or hard it will be for you.

So there you have it. It’s not hard at all. If I can do it, I’m sure you can too. Good luck!

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Here are the things you can do:

1. Get at least 5 empty envelopes ready.  Mark the envelopes as: 1. Books & Education, 2. Charity, 3. Insurance, 4. Medical, 5. Direct Deductibles (Zakat, Computer)

2. Books are tax-exempted for up to RM 1000 compared to RM 700 in previous years. Yearly fees for continuing education are exempted for up to Rm 5000. So go and buy some books or sign up for courses and remember to file the receipts. Not all courses is applicable, so check.

3. If you’re a philanthropist, and love giving back to society, don’t forget to file your receipts from your donations.

4. Get full medical checkup for yourself, DH/DW and children which is exempted for up to RM 500. All the money in the world can’t help you if you don’t take care of yourself.

5. If you have insurance, you’ll get insurance statement some time at the end of year or early in the year, which is exempted for up to RM6000 (for EPF + Life) and RM3000 (for education + medical).

6. Direct deductibles are Zakat/Fitrah & Computer. Zakat is a must for Muslims. Also, you are entitled for up to RM 3000 for computer purchases (once in 3 years), compared to RM 500 in previous years. I plan to get a computer this year because the rebate is much higher now compared to previous years.

I would usually print out last year’s tax form at the beginning of the year and fill it up in order to estimate how much tax I would have to pay roughly. I would use that amount to gauge how much I would need to spend in order to cover my tax expenses. Don’t go and needlessly buy RM 1000 worth of books if you only needed to pay RM 50 in tax initially.

You can find out more about your tax deductibles here:  http://www.hasil.org.my/melayu/bm_NO2_1_1E.asp

Please note that Lembaga Hasil Dalam Negeri website has moved to http://www.hasil.org.my

9/1/2008 Corrections:

I had just received Borang BE 2007 in the mail today and allow me to make some corrections:

Corrections:

1. Computer purchases are no longer direct deductables or “Rebate”. They are now under “Pelepasan“, for up to RM 3000 every 3 years.

Additional Info:

1. Savings to ‘Skim Simpanan Pendidikan Nasional’ is tax exempted for up to RM 3000 a year. This is under ‘Pelepasan‘.

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• 1993: Dividend=9.00, Bonus=4.50*
• 1994: Dividend=9.00, Bonus=4.50*
• 1995: Dividend=10.0, Bonus=3.00*
• 1996: Dividend=10.25, Bonus=3.00*
• 1997: Dividend=10.25, Bonus=1.25*
• 1998: Dividend=8.00, Bonus=2.50*
• 1999: Dividend=10.5, Bonus=1.50*
• 2000: Dividend=9.75, Bonus=2.00*
• 2001: Dividend=7.00, Bonus=3.00*
• 2002: Dividend=7.00, Bonus=2.00**
• 2003: Dividend=7.25, Bonus=2.00**
• 2004: Dividend=7.25, Bonus=2.00**
• 2005: Dividend=7.25, Bonus=1.75**
• 2006: Dividend=7.30, Bonus=1.25**
• 2007: Dividend=8.00, Bonus=1.00**

Source: PNB Prospectus** & the Internet*

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Finally, the next day, I had laid out a business proposal to DH. He was skeptical at first, too many things to sort out, he said. But we started brainstorming, then, one thing led to another, and last night, we started to check on inventory. DH has been reading Kiyosaki’s the past few weeks, so, we got a few more ideas on what other things we can do.

What is the business idea, you ask? I know I have been vague. The reason is that, we’re not 100% confident that it will work. We’re still deciding about the pricing structure, insurance, and all sorts of other things. I will let you know soon, once we’ve figured everything out. But, let me just tell you this. If you have an idea, go for it. Like Anthony Robbins used to say, when is NOW a good time to start?

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