i'm at penang airport right now.. waiting for cik supinah.. i'm not online so this is a delayed post..

anyways.. been wanting to say something since I watched Oprah last night. I've watched that episode some time ago already. This episode must be a rerun.. It was about a lady called Suze 'something'.. is it Suze Orman?.. what I know is that she's an expert in giving advices or counseling on how to manage your money.. how to spend well.. the guests were couples whose in real debts.. they have been spending future money, they have loans and credit card outstanding.. This one couple particularly, have almost 60k outstanding credit card loan.. and their mortgage payment is always behind schedule.. the wife is not working and the husband is making 100k a yr (that’s quite a lot) but after tax would be around 60K.. still I think it is not bad.. but they are the people who could not manage their money well, they spend more than they earn..

In the program, Suze says that the wife who was not working to start working at starbucks since she loves starbucks so much.. and with the money that she earn, she will have to buy health insurance for herself and the children.. and Suze also said that she has to buy a life insurance for the husband.. She said "You are depending on him, he is the ride of your life!" I absolutely agree with her.. seriously.. She didn’t say that with the money that she earn, the wife need to help the husband pay the debt but instead, buy insurance.

I heard many people say that they can’t afford insurance because they have so many commitments.. Truth is, no other commitments are less important than a life insurance.. most of us does not aware the importance of life insurance.. they thought you should have a life insurance when you are wealthy when you have extra money to put aside.. but the fact is insurance is the basic need.. insurance is more important than having a house.. more important than having a car.. husbands need to have life insurance.. You’re the bread winner even if your wife is working.. what will happen if you die?? Can you promise your kids that even if daddy’s gone, everything will be normal.. nothing has to change cause daddy leaves enough money for you and your mum to keep on living.. How nice..

Unfortunately, there are people who surrender their insurance policy because they are renovating the kitchen.. so frustrating..

People always ask me whats the difference between insurance and takaful... almost everytime I met with new people.. that would be among the first question asked..

first of all, takaful is also means insurance. so both terms mean the same things; PROTECTION.

First, Insurance is a contract of buy and sell. company sell protection, policyholder buy insurance. In Islam, buying and selling something that is not certain is wrong. Protection is uncertain. If a person get sick or die then only the insurance company will pay him or her or the nominees. If not, he or she might get some money back. Because of that, Takaful is a concept of donating. Not buying and selling. A takaful plan is like a program, who ever participate in this program is called participant (not a policyholder), the policy book is called certificate, the monthly premium is called contribution and the organization handling this program is called takaful operator not a company..

Second, of course the investment and the way of a takaful operator manages their fund follow islamic law and rules. The law is govern by bank negara. So when bank negara release any takaful licences, we can rest assured that those operators are syariah-compliant. Tak kisah la kalo nama operator tu ada nama omputih pun.. tapi kalo dah namanya takaful memang sumer whole company(operator) pun syariah-compliant

Third, there will be no product which gives fixed interest, which has riba' and such.

Now most people know Prudential got a takaful licence from bank negara about 2 yrs back. It is called Prudential BSN Takaful Bhd. Its a different company from the old Prudential but have similar investment-linked product.

in my last entry i did mention i'm gonna update my blog quite often now.. but.. you know what i'm going to say.. i'm busy.. huahua..

anyways.. this time i wanna talk about retirement.. do you have any savings for your retirement?? you might have savings.. but do you really specify what your savings are for?? maybe you save some in ASB.. some in Tabung Haji.. some in unit trust.. some you just leave them shrink in the savings account.. again I'm asking what are those money for.. usual and easy answer.. UNTUK HARI TUA.. huhuhu..

hari tua could means for your retirement.. hari tua could means when you're sick, critically ill, bedridden for the rest of your life.. hari tua could means for your kids education.. hari tua could means for you to renovate your house to accomodate your kids and grandkids.. lagi best.. hari tua could means for your next marriage..

well.. not many people actually have a saving purposely for their retirement, savings to build a fund to replace the income you're earning right now.. many people think their EPF money would be enough.. but statistic shows that most people used up all their EPF money during the FIRST 3 YEARS of their retirement years.. after that they are actually hoping that their kids have good jobs and can take care of them..

Maybe right now, your parents are still earning.. still working beyond their retirement age.. or started a business.. what are they trying to do? to make a living.. to make sure they'll survive their retirement years.. they wouldnt want to ask for your help.. because they know we ourselves are not earning that much..

in the future, if we did not do something for our retirement.. we'll be like them, old but still working.. old but still wakes up early in the morning to go to work.. worse.. if we have to change our lifestyle.. we used to own a car.. now we have to sell it.. we used to eat out at chilis or TGIF.. now we dont even go out to mamak that often.. we used to travel around.. now we dont quite have enough to go to our son's house in the UK..

we always thought when we are older we dont drive because our eyesight has worsen.. we thought when we are older we cant eat at chilis or TGIF because its not healthy.. when we are older we cant travel that much because we are weaker, back pain and such..

but if we have the money, we could use a driver.. we could still eat healthier servings at chilis or TGIF (ada ke?).. we could travel first class..

products that might help.. PRUretirement accumulator and PRUretirement growth (formerly known as PRUlink income)