My Oyster 123

I am reading up on finance books and also on investing in the Malaysian stock market. Though I have already opened an online trading account with Public bank last year, I still dare not trade yet for lack of knowledge. Now, as I read more books on investing and financial ratios like ROE or Return on Equity which measures profitability or PE ratio for Price Earnings Ratio and Debt Equity Ratio, etc. You also need to know how to calculate intrinsic value or book value of the share in a company so that you don't over pay and buy at a discount, preferably below 2/3 its actual price.

If you have disposable income and savings in the bank, it is better to invest in properties than to park your money in Fixed Deposits or put in the savings account. Using the rule of 72, if the inflation rate is 4% per year, then it takes 72/4 equals 18 years for your money to become half its value. Prices keep increasing and the cost of living keeps rising due to inflation. Hence, it is better to invest in properties to get rental income and to get capital appreciation as time goes on.

For instance, if you buy a property for $160,000.00 and rent it out for $800 a month, your returns would be 6% compared to putting it in the Fixed Deposit for only 2.75%. Just my 2 cents.

Gold is accepted worldwide and represents the ultimate payment system anywhere in the world. It is a much sought after precious metal that is used for jewellery, space technology and as numismatist gold bullion coins. Banks prefer to deal with gold than paper money of which the value can be eroded due to rising future inflation. So, if you have extra cash to invest, it is better to buy gold coins and keep them in a safe place. In times of war, paper money can become useless overnight just like the Japanese banana money that was printed in abundance during the Japanese occupation in Malaya. However, when the British return, the banana paper money became worthless overnight. It is named so because of the picture of the banana tree on the paper notes.