Bismillah.
Assalammualaikum!
Before I start, I pray that my blog readers here are in the pink of health. Insyaallah. Amin. My topic in this post is "How To Plan My Life". This post was requested by my close friends, who constantly keep themselves updated about my progress in educating the people around me and the extended network. Therefore, this goes to Diana Syahidayu and Muhammad Filzuan. Thank you for your ideas.
In my line of job, I have met various individuals from different backgrounds, different characters, different stage of life and of different understanding on managing their wealth and life. I am sure that each individual knows how to plan their life, but it is a matter of disciplining oneself on how to achieve their goals as planned. I was taught since young that "Nothing waits for us if we do not work for it and towards it. Do it today or now, because you never know what tomorrow or the next minute will be.".
I remembered back in November 2012, when I was in my final semester in Nanyang Polytechnic, I asked myself what I would like to do after I graduate in March 2013. I remembered telling afew of my lecturers which I am close with, that I am keen in helping people especially in managing their wealth, which is related to my course of study, Diploma in Fund Management and Administration. The recommendations they offered me was Wealth Manager or Relationship Manager. They pre-empt me that I am required to sit for examinations in order to be a licensed financial advisory agent. To cut my story short, alhamdulillah, I have managed to obtain my license(its expensive for someone like me who just graduated and relies on my own savings) and doing what I have planned. This journey I chose is actually a risk of letting go of an opportunity, between opting to continue to my degree or to be a Relationship Manager. As the eldest in the family, I forgo the option of furthering my studies, in order to let my younger sister achieve her goals in life and grow to be a successful person like me, her role model.
Since we are at this topic on 'How To Plan My Life', first and foremost I would like to emphasize that 'Failure in planning, leads to planning to fail'. This serves as a reminder not only to myself but also to everyone.
There are different stages in life. They are the following:
As we can see, different stages in life, individuals have different needs. I understand that most of us gets confused with our Needs and Wants, and normally would resort into fulfilling our Wants instead. To curb this mentality, here is the definition of Needs and also Wants.
NEEDS
Urgent want, as of something requisite. (Dictionary.com)
WANTS
To feel a need, a desire for; wish for. (Dictionary.com)
I hope that the definition given as above mentioned, have cleared your doubts or confusion that all of you had before this. Getting back to the main topic, there is actually no exact recipe which suits every individual in order to be successful in reaching their goals, as an individual's life may be subjected to different factors which differs from others.
What an individual can do is, to list down your goals in life, starting from now till your retirement age. It is never too early or too late to start planning. You can list it down on paper, or do it on any software which enables you to list down your thoughts and goals. As for myself, I did my own Personal and Financial Planning on an Excel Spreadsheet, complete with a Monthly Income and Expenditure, to track on my finance.
If you are keen on knowing how to do it, feel free to drop me an email, so that I can assist you accordingly. Do not worry, I provide a complete Wealth Management services at no cost and there is no obligation. As my trainer have provided a motto "I do not provide the services that you do not Need, you do not Want or you do not Know".
Based on my experience with my clients, the usual ones are planning for the following:
1) Childrens' Education/Further Study
2) Wedding
3) Retirement
4) Fresh Graduate
5) Haji/Umrah savings plan
5) Haji/Umrah savings plan
I will continue in the next few blog entries, which will be much detailed for each stages in life, based from real life cases. I will also share with all of you, the things I have learnt from various seminars/talks that I have attended. I have attended seminar by CPF-Coffee Talk, Mendaki Graduates' 2013, Islamic Banking Seminar Series-Concept of Wealth in Islam, and Faraid:The Islamic Inheritance Law. Stay tuned!
Wassalam.
Bismillah.
Assalammualaikum.
I would like to extend the invitation to the upcoming Islamic Banking Seminar-Faraid, The Islamic Inheritance Law. Alhamdulillah that the previous seminar, Islamic Banking Seminar-Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITS), was a successful event. Therefore, I would like to invite those who are interested in this event to register to me immediately by email at nur.farhanah.jasni@gmail.com , as registration is on a first come first serve basis. The details are as follows:
Feel free to invite your family, relatives and friends to come along to listen to this Seminar. Registration will be closed on 9 October 2013. So hurry now and book your seats. Looking forward to more people attending this event. Syukran.
Wassalam.
Bismillah.
Assalammualaikum.
Here is the continuation of my previous post "Effects of Inflation On Savings". This blog entry shall be about how, we, as an individual Muslim can do our part in managing our wealth and grow it, in accordance to the Islamic Syariah Law.
First and foremost, before we start off with growing our wealth in accordance to Islamic Syariah Law, we need to understand what is the Syariah Law.
Syariah Law is a set of guidelines by Allah, to us, his faithful servants, so that Allah favours everything we do, as long as it is within the guidelines. The primary sources of Syariah are: Al-Quran and Sunnah (Practices of Prophet Muhammad's(PBUH) actions, words and approvals). Syariah Law highlights the Prohibition of Riba', Our Role and Responsibility as a Muslim and, last but not least, Wealth In Islam (Insyaallah, I will try to cover each and every points in my future blog entries, much more in detail for better understanding. Amin.).
Moving on from what we understand from the Syariah Law, lets learn about how we can manage our wealth and grow it in accordance to the Islamic Syariah Law. As we all know, we have to try our best to make everything halal, ranging from the food we eat, the clothes we wear, the money we earn and also to personal matters such as love.
How do we go about in managing our wealth and grow it in accordance to the Islamic Syariah Law?
1) Make effort to come forward and look for Syariah Compliant choices first, before opting for the Connventional option. A Syariah Compliant product do not deal with Riba', gharar (uncertainty), gambling/maisir and other Haram businesses.
2) Participate in supporting the Islamic Economy by making the first step: Open up an Islamic Bank Account. After which, you can continue by sharing the goodness of having an Islamic Bank Account, with the people around you.
3) Ask the respective bank/relationship manager that you open your Islamic Bank Account on what are the Islamic Investments that they provide.
Islamic Investments can be as follows (list may be longer for some banks):
4) Look out for seminars on Islamic Banking. They sure do cover various types of topics which is according to current context. (There is an upcoming Islamic Banking Seminar, Insyaallah, I will post it in my next blog post once it is confirmed.)
I hope I have answered the question well in this blog entry. If you have any enquiry, feel free to email me at nur.farhanah.jasni@gmail.com or FB message me. Don't forget to share, because sharing is caring. Jazakallah khairan (May Allah reward you with goodness.). In the mean time, stay tuned for my next blog entry.
First and foremost, before we start off with growing our wealth in accordance to Islamic Syariah Law, we need to understand what is the Syariah Law.
Syariah Law is a set of guidelines by Allah, to us, his faithful servants, so that Allah favours everything we do, as long as it is within the guidelines. The primary sources of Syariah are: Al-Quran and Sunnah (Practices of Prophet Muhammad's(PBUH) actions, words and approvals). Syariah Law highlights the Prohibition of Riba', Our Role and Responsibility as a Muslim and, last but not least, Wealth In Islam (Insyaallah, I will try to cover each and every points in my future blog entries, much more in detail for better understanding. Amin.).
Moving on from what we understand from the Syariah Law, lets learn about how we can manage our wealth and grow it in accordance to the Islamic Syariah Law. As we all know, we have to try our best to make everything halal, ranging from the food we eat, the clothes we wear, the money we earn and also to personal matters such as love.
How do we go about in managing our wealth and grow it in accordance to the Islamic Syariah Law?
1) Make effort to come forward and look for Syariah Compliant choices first, before opting for the Connventional option. A Syariah Compliant product do not deal with Riba', gharar (uncertainty), gambling/maisir and other Haram businesses.
2) Participate in supporting the Islamic Economy by making the first step: Open up an Islamic Bank Account. After which, you can continue by sharing the goodness of having an Islamic Bank Account, with the people around you.
3) Ask the respective bank/relationship manager that you open your Islamic Bank Account on what are the Islamic Investments that they provide.
Islamic Investments can be as follows (list may be longer for some banks):
- 1) Fixed Deposit
- 2) Sukuk (Bonds)
- 3) Unit Trusts
- 4) Takaful (Insurance)
4) Look out for seminars on Islamic Banking. They sure do cover various types of topics which is according to current context. (There is an upcoming Islamic Banking Seminar, Insyaallah, I will post it in my next blog post once it is confirmed.)
I hope I have answered the question well in this blog entry. If you have any enquiry, feel free to email me at nur.farhanah.jasni@gmail.com or FB message me. Don't forget to share, because sharing is caring. Jazakallah khairan (May Allah reward you with goodness.). In the mean time, stay tuned for my next blog entry.
Wassalam.
Bismillah.
Assalammualaikum!
As you can see, from the headlines, Singapore is facing an increase in inflation of up to 1.8% in July 2013, which was from 1.6% in June 2013, as compared to back in 2012 when the inflation rate was 1.5%. This significant increase in inflation rate indeed affects all of us in every aspects in life, especially our savings. Why savings? Well, as all of you are aware, savings are important in our daily life. It is important to have savings to supplement our daily necessities ranging from your transportation, utilities, entertainment(f&b, shopping), family expenses and the list goes on.
What is inflation?
A persistent, substantial rise in the general level of prices related to an increase in the volume of money and resulting in the loss of value of currency. (Dictionary.com)
Why do inflation affects savings?
Inflation affects our savings especially when we have to use our savings to purchase daily necessities which are always increasing in price due to certain factors of inflation such as the rising prices of oil affects our energy consumption such as oil for our car, electricity, etc. High demand of goods and services, the prices of it, also increases.
Take for example the recent haze chaos, whereby there are high demand for face mask and low supply of the face mask causes most businesses to take this advantage by increasing the price of the mask, making it only available to be purchased by people who can really afford the high price of the face mask. Inflation causes an unfair dealing of transaction which is if an advantage for the well-to-do people, and a disadvantage for the lower income people.
Inflation causes our savings to deplete faster than usual, to keep up with the high standard of living. This in turn causes the lower and middle income, difficulty in surviving with just one job of a lower pay. Recent surveys have shown that the standard of living is too high that not only the husband' salary is not enough and therefore the wife have to also go out and work, in order to help the husband to support the family. It is a current trend whereby both husband and wife will have to work in order to sustain the high standard of living in Singapore.
In my next blog entry, I will share with all of you on "How Do We Grow Our Money In Accordance To The Syariah Law", a topic whereby it is a solution to beat against the inflation. Stay tuned! In the meantime, do feel free to email me for feedbacks or suggestions on future topics. Thank you! :)
Inflation affects our savings especially when we have to use our savings to purchase daily necessities which are always increasing in price due to certain factors of inflation such as the rising prices of oil affects our energy consumption such as oil for our car, electricity, etc. High demand of goods and services, the prices of it, also increases.
Take for example the recent haze chaos, whereby there are high demand for face mask and low supply of the face mask causes most businesses to take this advantage by increasing the price of the mask, making it only available to be purchased by people who can really afford the high price of the face mask. Inflation causes an unfair dealing of transaction which is if an advantage for the well-to-do people, and a disadvantage for the lower income people.
Inflation causes our savings to deplete faster than usual, to keep up with the high standard of living. This in turn causes the lower and middle income, difficulty in surviving with just one job of a lower pay. Recent surveys have shown that the standard of living is too high that not only the husband' salary is not enough and therefore the wife have to also go out and work, in order to help the husband to support the family. It is a current trend whereby both husband and wife will have to work in order to sustain the high standard of living in Singapore.
In my next blog entry, I will share with all of you on "How Do We Grow Our Money In Accordance To The Syariah Law", a topic whereby it is a solution to beat against the inflation. Stay tuned! In the meantime, do feel free to email me for feedbacks or suggestions on future topics. Thank you! :)
Wassalam.
Bismillah.
Assalammualaikum!
I hope my dear blog readers are in the pink of health. After a month of hiatus due to transition period from one journey to the other, I shall take this opportunity to update on a survey which was done within a span of 2 days (27 July 2013 to 28 July 2013), within my Facebook friends, on the topic of Save and Spend In The Month of Ramadhan. There are a total of 21 respondents who did the survey. Thank you to those who helped me with the survey. May Allah bless your kind deeds.
In this blog post, I will highlight the results that are critical to us.
Most of the respondents spent on average of above S$50, during each visit to the Ramadhan Bazaar.
93% of the respondents thought that the prices of the goods/services have increased due to inflation.
38% of the respondents' budget for this year's Hari Raya within the range of S$100 - S$300.
Therefore, from this blog entry, I will continue on to the next blog entry topic, which will be on Inflation. Stay tuned people! There are lots of blog topics (Inflation, How To Plan Your Life, Wealth Distribution, Why Islamic Banking and Finance Is My Choice, Is Loan Allowed In Islam, Summary of Islamic Banking Seminar-REITS and more) lined up and ready to be published soon. Insyaallah. Amin. In the mean time, do send in your request for blog topics through my email: nur.farhanah.jasni@gmail.com .
Based from the results above, my respondents are in 2 different age groups of 20-25 years old and 26-30years old.
From the 2 groups of respondents, 14 of them have visited the various Ramadhan Bazaar. All of them visited the Ramadhan Bazaar to purchase food and drinks, 6 of them purchased Hari Raya Accessories, 4 purchased Hari Raya Clothes and Decorations and 3 purchased Hari Raya Kuih.
Therefore, from this blog entry, I will continue on to the next blog entry topic, which will be on Inflation. Stay tuned people! There are lots of blog topics (Inflation, How To Plan Your Life, Wealth Distribution, Why Islamic Banking and Finance Is My Choice, Is Loan Allowed In Islam, Summary of Islamic Banking Seminar-REITS and more) lined up and ready to be published soon. Insyaallah. Amin. In the mean time, do send in your request for blog topics through my email: nur.farhanah.jasni@gmail.com .
Wassalam.
Islamic Banking Seminar-Shariah Compliant Real Estate Investment Trusts(REITs)
8/21/2013 11:55:00 am
Bismillah.
Assalammualaikum.
I would like to extend my invites to my blog readers, of an upcoming seminar. Details as follows:
Have you ever wonder, what is the Concept of Wealth In Islam?
To find out more, join us at our upcoming seminar:
Date: Saturday, 14th September 2013
Time: 1.45pm to 4.45pm
Venue: Singapore Land Tower
Speakers:
1) Ustaz Kamal Moktar: Shariah Advisor and Research Analyst at SharpTM Financial Corp
Topic Covering - Islamic Investments and The Concept of Wealth in Islam
2) Mr Bobby Tay - Key founder who led in the creation and listing of Sabana REITs
Topic Covering-Opportunities when investing into the Shariah Compliant Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs)
Email me at nurfarhanah.jasni@gmail.com for more information.
Wassalam.
Bismillah.
Assalammualaikum!
Before I start off with the blog topic on Friends In Finance, I would like to wish to all my Muslim family, relatives, friends, colleagues and clients, Salam Ramadhan Kareem! I hope its not too late to wish everyone. Alhamdulillah that it is already the 16th day of Ramadhan. I hope everyone is in the pink of health.
Here is a hadith that I would like to share and definitely relates back to my topic for this blog post.
Here is a hadith that I would like to share and definitely relates back to my topic for this blog post.
First and foremost, Alhamdulillah for the wonderful journey in the past 3 months of my career as a Wealth Manager. I get to meet different types of individuals from different walks of life and profession. Each one of them are unique in every way but they have the same belief as I am: We believe in living our life in accordance to Islamic rules. We are aware of the Halal and the Haram in every aspect of our life. All of them inspires to try their best to fit their life accordingly, even though Singapore is a non-Islamic country, we still have ways to accomodate to our needs as a Muslim individuals.
I have seen efforts in my Facebook live feed whereby people come together to compile the list of Musollah in Singapore. In my Twitter, people constantly enquire to MUIS regarding the various food outlets, whether is it Halal to be consumed, as Singaporeans are well-known for their love for Food. I have been to various types of seminar ranging from Finance to Spiritual to Family to Personal, everyone are keen in gaining knowledge, in Islamic way.
I have seen the Finance sector are slowly catering to more Islamic Banking and Finance seminars so as to reach out to the Muslim community, a slow yet careful in handling the matter. But the point being now is, I am curious to what type of Finance seminar are people actually interested in, as compared to Spiritual, Family and Personal seminars.
I seek all of your response to the type of Finance Seminar that you are interested, Insyaallah, I can help suggest it to the right professional personnel to look into it. Islam is a well-rounded religion which simply covers every aspect of our lives. It is our obligation to embrace every single aspect Islamically. Like my analogy of: You cannot possibly eat Halal food, but you save in a non-halal manner or dress un-Islamically or talk like a non-Muslim.
Before I end my post, I would like to Thank to those blog readers out there for visiting my blog. Alhamdulillah for the numbers and different types of countries. I hope all of you will come forward to share your opinions and how is Islamic Banking and Finance is being done in your country. As my usual phrase: Sharing is Caring. Come share with me through Commenting on my post or Email me or Google Chat or FB Message. I would be happy to gain more knowledge and share with everyone. Advance thank you to those who share with me.
Wassalam.
PS: Thank you to Sister Siti Wanda Nabila for suggesting this topic. May Allah bless you always. :) <3
Bismillah.
Assalammualaikum!
In this blog post, I would like to bring upon the topic "Is Borrowing To Invest In Real Estate Recommended?", as promised in the previous post. Recently went for another seminar which helps answer to this blog post.
What is Total Debt Servicing Ratio (TDSR)?
Provide Financial Institutions a robust basis for assessing the debt servicing ability of borrowers applying for property loans, taking into consideration their other outstanding debt obligations. TDSR applies to loans for the purchase of all types of property, loans secured on property, and the refinancing of all such loans.
(Source: http://www.mas.gov.sg/news-and-publications/press-releases/2013/mas-introduces-debt-servicing-framework-for-property-loans.aspx)
With this TDSR, it is to make sure that loans such as study loan, credit card loan, any loans that you have taken, are all taken into account to make sure that it does not exceed 60% of the income.
First and foremost, property investment is a long-term commitment. Therefore, an individual have to do proper planning, research and also ask for professional help pertaining to acquiring properties. The current issue of the TDSR being introduced affects bank to standardize and limit your loans. By standardizing, an individual will be limited to the type of property they can actually purchased.
What is Refinancing of Loan?
It is an opportunity to replace your existing property loan with a new one that suits your current financial situation. With this, it helps lower your monthly payments.
With this, these are the only points that I can share here, as I find it is beneficial if all of you can actually go for the seminar and gain it better than I do.
Wassalam.
PS: If any of you out there are interested to know of any upcoming seminars, feel free to email me at nur.farhanah.jasni@gmail.com . And if any of you are interested in Property Investment, feel free to email me too. Insyaallah, I will try my best to network you with the specific professional. Thank you!
Bismillah.
Assalammualaikum!
I recently went for a property investment seminar on Thursday, 27 June 2013, conducted by Walton International Group. I got to know about this seminar from Islamic Events's newsletter. Here is the advertisement:
What caught my eye about this advertisement was the title of the seminar: "Is Investment Encouraged In Islam?"
An attractive headline which brought me forward to come for the seminar. So, what was being covered during the seminar? Let's start it with a verse from the Al-Quran.
"O my people! worship Allah: ye have no other God but Him. It is He Who hath produced you from the earth and settled you therein: then ask forgiveness of Him, and turn to him (in repentance): for my Lord is (always) near, ready to answer." (Hud:61)
This verse basically is a reminder to all of us that the place that we are currently living, this Earth, is meant to be a place to live in, construct and take ownership, which is a form of a mean of fulfilling a Divine command. How is that so? Basically, it is about a relationship of a person and the earth, on a basis of because of Allah. Sounds confusing? It actually means, we should do good to the land we are living in, in many ways, such as farming, building homes to live in etc, which are a means for us to live and also to constantly be aware of Allah, our Creator.
Why is Investment important?
Money cannot remain the same, otherwise to give Zakat. The money you earn, needs to be used to purchase your daily necessities and therefore the money will be circulated into the economy.
Money cannot remain the same, otherwise to give Zakat. The money you earn, needs to be used to purchase your daily necessities and therefore the money will be circulated into the economy.
Money is just a platform for you to acquire your needs and wants. It is neutral. So, this is where investment sets in.
Investment is important as:
- It generates job opportunities and develop the society
- It teaches the investor dependence on Allah. "Although they plan, Allah also plans. And Allah is the best of planners." (Al-Anfal:30)
- It secures growth for the society.
- It enables the person to realize the importance of effort.
- It is a means of earning from halal venues.
- It is also income in old age.
What makes Investment haram?
Riba'. It causes people to be lazy. Because they expect the interest to generate higher returns.
So, with money, we are encouraged to be innovative. Think whether you can use the money to set up a new business or it can also actually develops you, by signing up for courses to further upgrade yourself.
Businesses strengthens the community through communication, which enables the society to grow and expand.
Therefore, the seminar leads to the actual topic: Real Estate Investment. I have some clients of my own who actually asked me how do they go about investing in Real Estate. Most of them have the same thought of loaning money from the bank, to invest in Real Estate (I will cover this topic, insyaallah, in my next blog post.).
Why Real Estate?
Why Real Estate?
- Creating a relation between Muslim and Earth
- No cheating in real estate generally (less gharar) gharar means deception
- Establishing people in lands. "O our Lord! I have made some of my offspring to dwell in an uncultivable valley by Your Sacred House (the Ka'bah at Makkah); in order, O our Lord, that they may perform A-Salât (Iqamat-as-Salât), so fill some hearts among men with love towards them, and (O Allah) provide them with fruits so that they may give thanks. (Ibrahim:37)
- Moving from property to property (importance of ownership). "He who sells a house or a property and does not invest the revenue he made in something similar to it, is more likely to lose blessing." (Musnad Ahmad)
- Concept of ihya al-mawat or Bringing Unused Land to Life. "Whoever reclaims a land that does not belong to anyone, he deserves it more than anyone."
What is the Islamic Contribution?
- Sincerity of intention (not only to own but to serve)
- Price acquired from halal (no money laundering)
- Interest-free purchases/no interest-based loans
- No reselling before real owning
- No renting for haram purposes
- Being innovative and selective in choosing the purposes for which the land will be used (planning)
- Observing the effect of land use on prospective residents
- Muslims are encouraged to diversify the Shari'ah compliant solutions/give in rather than give up
- Muslim communities / businessmen are islamically bound by means of collective duty to fill this gap as this is one of their responsibilities towards the money they have.
Therefore, it is the end of my summary regarding this seminar. Insyaallah, I will be covering on my next blog post regarding "Is it advisable to borrow money to invest in Real Estate?". Amin.
Wassalam.
Bismillah.
Assalammualaikum!
This is the continuation of the previous blog post topic, which is on Savings. Recently I was helping to sign-up my clients for Islamic Savings Account which does not requires initial deposit as the company is having a promotion which lasted till today, 30 June 2013. I have some clients who gave a common excuse like "Oh! I have alot of bank accounts" or "I would rather stick to bank 'A' which has Islamic Bank facility but will consider changing it later" or "I am not interested".
As a graduate from Diploma in Fund Management and Administration who learns about investment, I was constantly reminded "Do not put all your eggs in one basket". This phrase applies not only to investment, but also in savings. There is actually no harm in having alot of savings account. Frankly speaking, I myself have various savings account: 2 Conventional and 2 Islamic savings account. Secret to saving your money is to spread it out. Like the following diagram [Diagram 1.1] (Continuation on Aminah's story in the previous blog post [Diagram 1]):
Diagram 1
Diagram 1.1
Well, now you see, no excuse to be made on, to open another Islamic savings account. Show your support for strengthening the Islamic economy. If we Muslims do not support the Islamic economy, who else will do it for us? NO ONE. Let's do our part to come together and support the Islamic economy, for ourselves and for our future generations. Insyaallah. Amin.
Wassalam.
PS: Do feel free to share my blog post or provide constructive comments regarding my blog or blog posts as I appreciate your feedbacks, so that I can provide better understanding for everyone's benefit. I am here to share to all of you what I have learnt and also learn from all of you. Sharing is caring. If you are shy, you can email me at nur.farhanah.jasni@gmail.com or FB message me or Google Chat me. Don't be afraid or shy, I am your friendly friend and personal wealth manager, always at your service.
Bismillah
Assalammualaikum!
The most common problem I have observed:
1) Spent too much on shopping.
2) Excessive spending on food and beverage.
In my opinion, it is not wrong for an individual to spend their money on the above mentioned, but it is best to limit yourself. How to set limit? Well, check out the example below:
As you can see from the diagram above, there is Initial Savings of 10% of monthly income before expenses, this is to encourage yourself to save the minimum required.
HP Bills , Transportation, Entertainment and Donation are noted as adjustable according to usage. The next few points are the explanations.
HP Bills, use within the limit of the subscription. Avoid excessive downloading of mobile data, use wireless internet connection (wi-fi) instead. I am sure most of us are tech savvy, we tend to download applications for communication which is for video calling and text messaging such as Tango, Whatsapp, KakaoTalk, Skype etc., make full use of them to avoid excessive calls per minute billing and per text message billing.
Transportation can be reduced if you travel to work or school with your friends by car pooling or take the company transport(if your company provides). This helps saves our Earth that we are living in by reducing the air pollution and to also reduce traffic congestion and the number of people taking the public transport.
Entertainment can be reduced by eating less outside, bring food from home (definitely it is much more healthy and cheaper). Shopping, an individual can shop for clothes, shoes or accessories once a month or once every two months with a budget limit which does not exceed their monthly income. Limit yourself to just 1 or 2 set of outfit which is within your budget limit. Buy clothes for its good quality and not for the brand. Good quality clothing last longer and you can also try to mix and match with the clothes you already have at home.
Donation is included into the expenses as it is advisable to do so depending on how much each individual would like to contribute to the Masjid or Organizations, as to donate a portion of your monthly income, insyaallah, the money you earn will be filled with barakah (blessing from Allah). Amin.
So, after having explain each portion, the next important part will be "Where do I save my money the Islamic way?". Basically there's two types of banks that we have currently, which is the Conventional Banks (POSB, DBS, HSBC, Standard Chartered etc.) and also Islamic Banks (CIMB Islamic Group, OCBC Islamic Group and also Maybank Islamic Group). The following diagram shows the difference between the two different types of banks.
It is understood that I have explained in my previous post that interest or riba' is not permissible for contribution or consumption and therefore, we as Muslims are obligated to have Islamic savings account so as to enjoy the dividends or hibah which is being awarded upon maintaining your savings, as dividends or hibah, is being generated from profits made by the bank who uses your money to invest in Syariah Compliant investments.
Not only that you avoid interest, you receive higher dividends(subject to the various Islamic Banks discretionary) as compared to interest earned from conventional banks of as low as 0.05%.
Of course you would not want to earn less on your savings right? Well, Islamic Banking is the way. Why wait? Come approach me so that I can provide you with Islamic Wealth Management Services. Just drop me an email or FB message me, and I will contact you as soon as possible.
Wassalam.
Bismillah.
Assalammualaikum!
Wealth Management, in other words, Financial Planning, is basically about your Protection, Savings and also Investment.
Before I go on in depth on the topic "Financial Planning Is Important!", here are some of the results I have acquired.
Basically based from the survey results above, those in my friend list in Facebook are mostly in the age range of 20 to 25 years old, followed by the age range of 26 years old to 30 years old. There are a total of 18 respondents altogether. Thank you to my friends for sparing some of your time doing my survey.
Here is the most important part of the survey on how well do the respondents know about Wealth Management. As you can see from the graph above, most of the respondents know the importance of Savings as part of Wealth Management, followed by Retirement, Investment and Protection. There are rare few of them who knows about Syariah Compliant Funds and also regarding Portfolio Management. These two components are actually part of Investment.
The pyramid diagram above is the Basics of Financial Planning which encompasses every aspect of an average individual's needs. The following shall be the explanation of each aspect namely Protection, Savings and Investments.
Protection has a larger portion within the pyramid, whereby it covers 4 aspects, Hospitalisation, Accident, Total Permanent Disability and Critical Illness/Death. It is understood that this portion of the pyramid is a sensitive portion that is being discussed by various ulama' due to its gharar(uncertainty about the future) factor. My advice for this is to be taken with a pinch of salt, zakat your benefit payout/surrender value following the current Zakat Nisab and x2.5% for Insurance (Check out the video below for the explanation).
Savings is the 2nd largest portion within the pyramid. This portion of savings is commonly for retirement purposes and children's education, usually done with discipline, depending on individual's spending behaviour. The minimum amount an average individual should save is 10% of their income earned every month. From the accumulation of funds in their savings, the total amount should be sufficient for at least 6 months if (may Allah forbid) anything unexpected happens, so that there are enough funds to spend on for the next 6 months before the person recovers or finds another job.
The last small portion in the pyramid, is the Investment. There are two different types investments, they are Conventional and Islamic investments. We are encouraged to invest the Islamic way, so as to follow suit with the Syariah, and to be able to consume the profits without feeling doubtful about where and what it is being invested.
With this, I have explained roughly more or less the Importance of Financial Planning. If you have any further questions, just email me, and I will answer to you accordingly. Thank you!
Wassalam.
Bismillah (In the name of Allah).
Assalammualaikum (Peace be upon you),
During the talk, various topics were being brought up, especially on "why fiat currency is a problem?"
What is Fiat Currency?
Fiat currency is the currency that you and I are currently using to purchase goods or services, money we received as our salary. A main currency being circulated in the economy.
Why Fiat Currency is a problem?
Simply because of factors such as, it is said that our current conventional banks practices Fractional Reserve Banking.
Definition of Fractional Reserve Banking:
A better way of understanding this term is, simply put:
Ali, an ordinary person, deposit his sum of money of $1,000 in a conventional bank to save it for future use, knowing the fact that he earns only 1.2% from the deposits. On the other hand, the conventional bank, however uses the amount that Ali has deposited, to 'loan' it to Ahmad the same amount but charging Ahmad of a higher interest of 5.88%, hence the interest that is being charged is a form of virtual money that is being created so as to supplement the conventional bank's profit. Therefore, when Ahmad pays his loan, the extra amount of $58.80 is being paid to the conventional bank, so that the bank will pay the interest to be earned by Ali, of only $12, and the balance of the money of $46.80 is the amount that the bank profits from the whole process.
Therefore, fiat currency is a problem especially in the above scenario, whereby if Ahmad fails to pay his loan, the bank will not have the money to pay Ali his interest that he supposed to earned. Thus, this creates a domino effect on the whole economy. For example: Sub-Prime Mortgage crisis in 2008, which resulted in the financial crisis and recession.
How do we prevent the above mentioned event from happening?
- We need to get the mechanisms working: Analyse the dangers of conventional finance. Find out about what is wrong with the current financial institution.
- Support Islamic finance by getting yourself involved by depositing your savings into the various banks which provides Islamic Banking services such as Maybank, CIMB and OCBC.
- Spread the knowledge about Islamic Finance to your family and friends. (Sharing is caring.)
- Believe and have faith in Islamic Finance.
In syaa Allah (If Allah permits), we'll get to meet our long-term goal of having a proper currency backed by assets.
What is Riba'?
Riba' means interest. Interest that is either paid or received is considered as haram. It is haram, as money is being traded as a commodity. Commodity: Make money for money of a different value than the principal amount traded. Considering it as an unfair trade.
What is Islamic Finance?
- Halal.
- Hibah (Dividend) payout instead of interest.
- Real transaction and not virtual.
- Profit-sharing economy.
- Trade based on mutual agreement.
- Prohibition of riba' (interest), gharar (uncertainty of the future), gambling/maisir.
What are the different terminologies in Islamic Finance (I can only provide some here.)?
- Waqaf (Is a form of sadaqah, also known to be a religious endowment in Islamic Law)
- Wasiat (Trust)
- Takaful (Islamic Insurance)
- Wadiah (Safekeeping)
- Sukuk (Islamic Bonds)
- Qard Hassan (Good Loan)
- Musharakah (Joint Venture)
- Ijarah (Lease, Rent, Wage)
- Istisna (Manufacturing Finance)
6 Steps to manage your wealth, recommended by a qualified Wealth Manager:
- Set-up emergency fund
- Set personal financial objectives.
- Always pay for yourself first.
- Never borrow to invest.
- Protect your investment with insurance.
- Annual periodic review.
These are just some of the things I have learnt from the talk. It is best if you can attend this talk on the next session available every month organised by the Islamic Finance Club. May Allah opens your heart to come and gain the knowledge. In syaa Allah (If Allah permits.) Aamin. If you have any questions pertaining to any parts of this entry, you can simply email me at nur.farhanah.jasni@gmail.com.
Wassalam.
Bismillahir rahmannir rahim. (In the name of Allah the most gracious and beneficial.)
Assalammualaikum. (Peace be upon you.)
I am Nurfarhanah Binti Jasni, a wealth manager with one of the established financial institution in Singapore. A fresh graduate from NYP-Diploma in Fund Management and Administration. I have just started my career officially in May 2013, because my main intention is to help people with their wealth management. Apart from that, I like the way i can manage my time well, as my job is flexible and I love to meet new people.
My objective of setting up this blog is due to me still being new in this line of job and life is a journey whereby I have to keep on learning new things to keep myself updated. Therefore, this blog is dedicated to what i have read during my journey as a wealth manager, share my views on articles, talks/seminars and books. I hope all of you out there benefit from what i will share in this blog. I would like to seek forgiveness for all my lacking in my current and future blog posts, and I would like to say Alhamdulillah (Thank You Allah) for the knowledge that Allah has given to me to spread the knowledge in this blog. In syaa Allah (If Allah permits), may this be a fruitful journey. Aamin.
Wassalammualaikum. (And peace be with you.)
