Sorry for not updating

It has been awhile. For those of you who followed (if there is any) this blog at http://www.fiqblog.com, sad to say, the blog no longer exists. I’ll be updating my blog here from https://farawahida.wordpress.com from now on. I must say, nothing beats a free service.

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!

Malaysia hosting comparison

Finally, my blog on the new hosting is up. I’m grateful to WordPress, the migration was rather easy. It took me about 4 hours to get everything back to the way it was. If you had faced problems accessing the blog, again, I’m sorry.

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!

Company Name	Price RM	Space	Bandwidth	Add Onn Domain	Extras	Spec	RAM
Exabyte	199	10GB	50GB	10	Google Adwords Credit RM100	Intel Pentium D or 2 x Dual Core Xeon	2048MB
DataKL	130	10GB	50GB	6	Coupon Code 25OFF for 25% off first year	Intel Core 2 Duo 2.0Ghz	4GB
Jdany	80	100MB	1GB	Unlimited		Dual AMD OpteronTM Processor 248	8GB
Internet-Webhosting	80	2GB	20GB	5		Intel Pentium D CPU 3.06 GHz	4GB
Mesra Hosting	100	10GB	50GB	1		Dual Xeon 2.6 533MhZ Intel Processor	2GB – 8GB
Eternal Solutions	100	10GB	30GB	1	Free SEO worth USD47 for higher plans	Intel Pentium IV 2.4Ghz	512MB
Webserver.com.my	300	3GB	10GB	750
IPServerOne	99	3GB	30GB	1
NetKL.com	100	1.5GB	20GB	2	Monthly payments allowed, RM12/mo
NetKL.com	60	400MB	7GB	1	Monthly payments allowed, RM6/mo
Webhosting	330	2GB				Intel Pentium 4 with SATA-based Hard Drives
MalaysiaHosting2u	85	2.5GB	40GB	Unlimited?	Lower fee if sign up for 2 years
MalaysiaHosting2u	155	5GB	50GB	Unlimited?	Lower fee if sign up for 2 years
MercuMaya.net	68	5GB	50GB	1	Lower fee if sign up for 2 years
MercuMaya.net	98	10GB	100GB	2	Free 1 year domain
Web Hosting malaysia	140.67	400MB	2GB		Setup Fee
Surf7	90	5GB	20GB	20

More at http://www.fiQblog.com

Excuse me, while I move to a new home

If you’ve been experiencing problems while accessing this blog, I’m sorry. This blog is going to move to a new home soon, and hopefully, you will not face anymore hiccups. I’ll post soon on how and why I’m moving, but mostly because I’m moving from a free hosting to a paid hosting for obvious reasons, reliability.

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

More at http://www.fiQblog.com

Micro manage your money with OD/ASB

I’ve blogged about this before, but not in full details. To those who’s unfamiliar with OverDraft(OD) facility , you can read up here.

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

More at http://www.fiQblog.com

When will my Online Store go Online?

It has been almost 2 weeks now. My body is aching, my eyes are tired and it’s like my fingers are tapping away on the keyboard as if they have a mind of their own. Sleep is something I hardly have these days. After 7 years of what I always call a boring working life, I’m starting to miss it. To those who think that working for themselves is easy, they are mistaken.

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.

More at http://www.fiQblog.com

How to host your own blog on your own domain?

It took me about 1 week to setup the hosting, domain and finally move my blog until it’s finally up and running. How did I do it? It’s not simple, but it’s easy:

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!

More at http://www.fiQblog.com

Income Tax Checklist for 2008

How much did you pay for tax last year? If you are ’salaried’ like me, I bet you paid a lot more than you wish, right? So this year, let’s try to minimize our tax expenses, shall we?

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‘.

More reading at http://www.fiQblog.com

ASB Dividend and Bonus for the last 15 years

For most Bumiputeras, their ASB investment might be the largest or the only investment vehicle they have. Therefore, each year, all of us wait impatiently for the ASB to finish calculating the dividends and bonus and announce their payout in the news. Payouts are usually on the first week of January, unless otherwise announced by PNB. I figured this post would be helpful for those trying to gauge the performance of our Amanah Saham Bumiputera (ASB) for the last 15 years:

• 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*

More reading at http://www.fiQblog.com

Turning a business idea into a reality

Last weekend was a tiring one. I kept myself awake until about 4 in the morning, my mind racing thinking about a new business proposal that had came out of nowhere, plus, my daughter had been restless in her cot that night. I wanted to wake DH up, to tell him about my ‘out of nowhere’ business idea, but he was too busy snoring away, which could be the very reason my daughter and I couldn’t sleep that night. 😛

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?

More at http://www.fiQblog.com

I have moved to my own domain http://fiQblog.com

I have moved to my own domain at http://fiQblog.com. Come and check it out!

More at http://www.fiQblog.com