How to Evaluate Retirement Annuity Plan

Retirement planning is one of the often overlooked aspect in personal finance. By the time one realizes the significance of a retirement plan, he usually discovers that there are only a few years left to retirement age. The primary focus for the years which has passed by had been on children education fund and settlement of debts or mortgage.


In budget 2012, there is this new RM 3,000 tax relief (previously RM 1,000) on contributions to private retirement scheme and insurance annuity for 10 years. This tax relief shows that the government started to recognize the importance of insurance annuity as retirement income because lump sum retirement savings such as EPF, more often that not, gets exhausted too soon.

Bad news: Debit Card Fees

If your bank need to charge you an annual or monthly fees for the debit card you own, what would be your first reaction?

Absurd.

The Good News: That is what just happened in US.

Apparently, Bank of America will start charging debit-card users $5 a month if they use their debit cards for purchases in any given month, starting next year. The fee will not be triggered by transactions at automated-teller machines.Paying to use a debit card was unheard of before this year and is still a novel concept for many consumers.

Lesson 3: AER - Truth Revealed! Fixed Deposits Annual Interest Rate

Again, please read the basic difference between APR and AER before continue reading the below.


Refer to the annual interest rate for Maybank FD rates.

Assume RM 30,000 placed as FD for period of 1 month. Principal and interest will be credited to savings account after maturity.


Your earned interest would be RM 73.97 by the end of the month


You asked, how come? If it's 3% per annum, monthly interest rate based on principal of RM 30,000 should (3/12)% x 30,000 = RM 75.