Kereta

I had a little discussion with Dr Izzah medical. We talked about car. I wanted to tell her about one session I had with my friends almost a year ago. But it’ll be too long and I don’t want to continue that discussion just to prove my point (I have learned that the best thing to do when talking to someone is to listen first, seek to understand, and only then to be understood) – my apology to Dr Izzah if I made you angry in anyway, hehe sorry! Haha cam dramatic plak, padahal cam takde apepun.

Anyway, about 9-10 months ago, a group of grads from UK Eire with the help from some who graduated a year earlier, organised a forum/course on ‘Merancang Kewangan’. Basically it was about financial planning & some ‘other things’ as well. Lets focus on the dollar/pound sterling/ringgit Malaysia side.

We based our session on Tafsir Surah Yusuf. The dream of the Egypt’s ruler during Joseph’s AS lifetime – the drought that would come after the 7 years of peace & nikmah.

Three important aspect of financial planning are Savings, Takaful & Investment. Most important bit of our monthly income that must not be touched is saving. Let say your net income is RM2000. You should see it as RM1800 or even RM 1500. That RM 200/RM500 should be in BSN or Tabung Haji. These are the best two saving accounts that give best return. But in my case, it’s only Tabung Haji as Selangor Fatwa Council consider BSN still not halal (even though National Fatwa Council say ok, halal – it is a difference in opinion, choose which bring peace to your heart).  

Then, Takaful is very very important. In the conventional term we call it insurance, but since conventional insurance has Riba’ in it, I will never consider conventional insurance as an option (Bro, jelas kot dlm surah al baqarah, siapa terlibat dlm riba isytihar perang dgn Allah & rasul, dosa riba paling ringan = 36x dosa zina, let’s not go into that, that’s a different topic, & that’s what you learn when you have usrah with UZAR, hehe). Dunno what to explain here but, we can always to someone who know more about this.

Then, investment. Lets just say, when I am strong & stable with no 1 & no 2, I should go into number 3.  There are two types of investments. This topic is for another entry probably (kalau aku rajin).It might be property, it might other things (I need to learn this from my ayah angkat, and my experienced colleagues)

Then, there were something else – you’ll be poor until you see that cars are liability. Car isn’t an asset. For young fresh grad, I strongly agree with the speaker’s point that I should be able to pay my car monthly with only 15-20% of my income. In my case, with 25K, I was initially tempted to get a Swift, Vios, City, and even Civic actually. Haha – thank God, Myvi extreme just came out and delivers performance good enough that I am very satisfied driving it, and I just need to pay ~RM500 monthly for a good car! (unless you come from family affluent enough that owning a Mini is nothing).

The speaker kindly reminded us that, it is pretty easy for young executives to be deceived by trap of reputation – aku doctor/engineer/accountant (uk grad, LSE grad, RCSI grad blab la bla), aku mesti pakai kereta itu ini…nanti apa orang kata. See, it’s always – nanti apa orang kata. Alhamdulillah, I have learned to see my gadgets, my car, my possessions are no more than tools. As always - the aim is Jannah!

For those young executives trapped in this ‘perangkap reputasi’, I just want to share a story. I have a very good friend. He owns everything that we normal middle class citizen ever dream. I never knew that he is such an affluent guy coz he used ‘handphone nokia rama2’ when others used all these thin phones (tapi since he is a busy hardworking exec now, his choice is a smartphone laa kan). He drives his mother’s old Wira when Merc beratur kat dpn rumah. On his wall was written(masa mula2 visit him at his place) – Tuhan, apa lagi y nak aku cari di dunia ini. I wish him the best for everything he does semoga Allah terus tunjukkan jalan ke hadapan, & Allah pandu kehidupan seharian kamu. Semoga Allah permudahkan y susah, dan bantu kamu dlm setiap urusan.

Anyway, yea.. regarding my discussion with Dr Izzah, I actually wanted to say to her, whatever it is that you are going to drive in near future, appreciate what it is as it is coz it’ll bring happiness. Muhammad SAW did say that one of the four things that contribute to happiness is good horse (vehicle) and when you you are driving your BMW / Merc / Audi / Toyota / Honda / Proton / Perodua …. Just say Alhamdulillah (:

NIGHTNIGHT by DEDDY