Tax Relief from Insurance YOU must know

Want to save more from Tax? Read on…

 

 

Although this article is somewhat considered late for individual tax-payers this year, this could be useful next year anyway. When you buy insurance, besides getting the comprehensive protection and a worthwhile investment that will keep you financially stable should the unexpected happen, one more feature are very important for every tax payers.

 

Under Malaysian Income Tax Act 1967, you will also enjoy tax relief benefits provided. These tax incentives are given by Malaysia government to encourage us get have a protection plan, thus, inducing a good living life among Malaysians.

 

So what’s tax deductible? How much?

• Premiums on life insurance and/or deferred annuities.
• Premiums on education or medical benefits.

How much tax relief?

- Up to Rm6,000 for life insurance premiums and EPF contributions.

- Up to Rm3,000 for medical and education policies premiums.

 

You may qualify for tax relief under Education policies if:

• Beneficiary is the child.
• The life assured is the parent and the child is the nominee.
• Maturity amount must be payable when your child is between the ages of 14 to 25 years.

Or,

• The life assured is the child.
• Parent is the proposer.
• Payer benefit is attached for the full term.
• Maturity amount must be payable when your child is between the ages of 14 to 25 years.

You may qualify for tax relief under Medical policies if:

• Expenses are related to medical treatment resulting from a disease, accident or disability.
• The policy must be for coverage of 12 months or more.
• Both standalone policies and riders qualify, but if it is a rider, only the rider premium qualifies for deduction.

 

Common Mis-understanding:

How do I know how much relief I can deduct every year?

Every year, your insurer will send you a statement for tax deductions purpose and you just need to fill in the figures shown in that statement. You may request from your insurance company or agent, if you didn’t get it.

 

My premium is Rm2,400. Why the statement only shows Rm1,800?

Tax deductible is based on the actual premiums paid for that particular year. In this case, you only paid Rm1,800 for that year of assessment.

 

My premium is Rm2,400. Why I can’t relief full amount?

This may due to administration fees, or certain riders which didn’t entitle for relief.

 

If I buy insurance for my parents, can I get the relief?

NO. Your parents can get deductions if they bought insurance for their own. However, you may claim for your parents’ medical expenses of up to Rm5,000.

 

Not enough?

From 2010 onwards, premium on annuity scheme or additional premium paid on existing annuity scheme is qualify for another Rm1,000 relief. Amount exceeding Rm1,000 can be claimed together with life insurance premium category.

As the above criteria may change from time to time by regulatory authority, please seek your own tax advice if necessary.

Har marknaden blivit MINDRE effektiv med tiden?

Effektiva marknadshypotesen är under attack. Ingen tror längre på att (aktie)marknaden alltid har rätt, d.v.s. att den är effektiv. Som ”bevis” på att marknaden har haft fel tas den senaste tidens repetitiva boom-to-bust beteendet på aktiemarknaden. Jag är benägen att hålla med men samtidigt är jag väl medveten om marknadens tidigare uppvisande av ”allvetande”. Ta t.ex. den brittiska aktiemarknadens slutliga vändning uppåt redan under sommaren 1940, innan Battle of Britain (korrekt i efterhand men till synes märkligt vid tidpunkten), eller den tyska aktiemarknadens slutliga vändning nedåt redan under hösten 1941, när tyska Wehrmacht verkade oövervinneligt (korrekt i efterhand men till synes märkligt vid tidpunkten), eller den amerikanska aktiemarknadens slutliga vändning uppåt under sommaren 1942, efter slaget vid Midway (korrekt i efterhand men till synes märkligt vid tidpunkten)!

OK, I ljuset av detta, kan det kanske vara så att marknaden blivit mindre, i stället för mer, effektiv med tiden? Detta skulle gå på tvärs med den allmänna åsikten om att marknader blir mer och mer effektiva med tiden!

Jag håller inte detta för omöjligt (även om det är ett long shot) och mitt förslag till varför så skulle kunna vara fallet, vilket förstås är långt från bevisat, är de institutionella placerarnas dominans på marknaden! För 50 år sedan hade institutioner inte samma grepp om marknaden och det utbredda (miss)bruket av agenter för förvaltningen av principalens kapital, med alla dess incitamentsproblem, kanske kan leda till långa perioder av felprissättningar på marknaden. Ett exempel är betydelsen av relativa performance mått i stället för absoluta vilket kan uppmuntra till trendföljande beteende och skrämma bort “contrarian” beteende.

Min fråga är alltså: kan det vara så att “bankernas” lekande med dina och mina pengar gjort marknaden mindre ineffektiv? Min poäng är förstås att marknaden bara är effektiv om aktörernas åsikter divergerar, inte om de alla har samma åsikt. The Wisdom of Crowds ersätts annars med The Madness of Crowds!!!

Bursa Malaysia: e-Dividend

Still getting dividends by cheque?

Get them paid quickly and directly into your bank account.

 

As part of an effort to enhance payment efficiency, all public listed companies (PLCs) on Bursa Malaysia will required to pay the cash dividends to their shareholders starting September 2010. Such payments will directly credit into shareholders’ bank account under the eDividend initiative.

Why?

Such measure will provide shareholders greater convenience and faster access to their dividends, while PLCs will also benefit with eDividend’s lower cost. It eliminates the need for them to visit the bank to deposit dividend cheques, which are posted to them, as well as the problem of misplaced, lost or expired cheques.

How?

Shareholders can provide their bank account details to their stock brokers for the purpose of eDividend via the submission of an “eDividend Form” from 19 April 2010 onwards. The forms can be obtained from their stockbrokers or downloaded from Bursa Malaysia’s eDividend webpage.

 

 

What should I prepare?

• eDividend form
• copy of MyKad
• certified copy of bank statement / account book

Any thing else should I take note?

Any bank statement extracted from the internet has to be certified by a bank officer of the same bank.

What if, I have many CDS account?

You can choose to consolidate all dividends into a single bank account, or opt to assign different bank accounts for each CDS account.

Sounds good, any fees involved?

NO… if you do so before 18 April 2011. Otherwise, an administrative fee will be charged thereafter.

For more information, please click here

Goldman Sachs: Creating and Profiting from US subprime crisis?

Warning: This article is very complicated, and, DO NOT read if you aren’t a curios person…

The story:
Goldman                 = Goldman Sach
I                              = Hedge Funds
You                         = Investors
Apples                     = CDOs
Bet                          = Credit default swap
Hal ehwal Pengguna = US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)

Goldman sells you a packet of good and bad apples. You buy a packet hoping that the apples are good and can share with your friends later. Then, I placed a bet with Goldman that those apples are bad one. Before this, I actually is the one who had hand-picked the apples, then sold to Goldman, before Goldman sold it to you. Finally, the apples unfortunately come out as bad ones, can’t eat either.

Who is the victim?
You

Who is the gainer?
I (Hedge Fund)

Who is Goldman then?
The intermediate person, who is pretending do not know anything. And, successfully provides his “good” service to both parties.

What is the news now?
Hal ehwal Pengguna is suing Goldman for his wrong-doings.

Last week, US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) lodged civil charges against world’s leading investment bank, Goldman Sachs & Co. for performing a complex deal.

Goldman is being charged for not adequately informed buyers that another client helped select the securities linked to the investment, with the goal of profiting if their value tanked. However, Goldman denies that it did anything wrong as an intermediary only.

The securities linked to the investment are called “Synthetic CDO”, which can be explained as follows:

Wikipedia: “A synthetic CDO is a collateralized debt obligation (CDO) in which the underlying credit exposures are taken on using a credit default swap rather than by having a vehicle buy physical assets. They generate income selling insurance against bond defaults in the form of credit default swaps, typically on a pool of 100 or more companies. Sellers of credit default swaps receive regular payments from the buyers, which are usually banks or hedge funds.”

In short, synthetic CDO is a portfolio of credit default swaps, which is a form of insurance on a bond or other obligation.

Some more, Warren Buffet said Goldman Sachs is one of the finest banks in the world.

I did my best to tell the story, are you clear now?

Goldman, Chutzpah & Sachs!

SEC filing a lawsuit against Goldman & Sachs (GS) for securities fraud is clearly the news of the week (except for the (c)ash cloud delivered by Iceland to its European friends….). And no wonder! It is far from clear what the end result will be.

Even ignoring possible additional information that will leak out over the coming weeks, and ignoring any emotional or political interference with the legal procedure, I think it is very hard to tell whether GS actually has done anything wrong!

If we assume that the news available in yesterday´s media tells us the true story then the situation is the following: GS has helped John Paulson (the billionaire hedge fund manager) to go short in a number of mortgage-backed securities in a very convenient way (I wish I had had the opportunity back in 2006…). By bundling together a number of credit default swaps in one portfolio (the so-called synthetic CDO) and then taking the short end of this structure (which is perfectly OK) then Paulson managed to profit from the fall in house prices in the US. Someone had to take the long end, of course, and in this case the main buyer seems to have been a German bank called IKB. As it turned out, the "coglione" in this deal was IKB.....

Of course, if GS had informed the long investors that the famous Mr Paulson was on the short end, then they would probably not have bought the CDO. The question now, however, is whether one should REQUIRE GS to tell the investors that this was the case. Should one require one advanced institutional investor to inform another advanced institutional investor who is the counterparty to the deal? I DON´T KNOW!! If the buyer was a retail investor, then YES, GS should probably have had to tell the investor that the assets in the CDO pool were chosen by some wise guy in order to be as credit-risky as possible! However, I think IKB, and any other investment bank, should be perfectly capable to tell on their own whether assets are worth buying or not! They don’t need GS to tell them that. (There are some claims that GS told IKB that Paulson were going to be long the structure. That seems to have been a lie and that is not OK, of course. However, again, it is up to IKB to make the decision to buy or not, and it is quite pathetic to claim that the decision was based entirely on the actions of Paulson.)

Anyway, I am not a big fan of big investment banks playing with tax-payers money and paying half of their profits (but not half the losses) to their employees and I am happy to see them (and their share prices) getting hammered. However, I doubt that this is the right way to attack them. They should simply be closed down and reopened as partnerships! Preferably tomorrow!

A new liquidity tool!

Markit is about to offer a new “liquidity score” on corporate bonds and credit default swaps! I like that innovation and I see it as an example of how the market can come up with new solutions to problems if they really want to (perhaps with a kick in the a-s if needed…..)!

One important reason for the launch of this new tool is of course the regulators' sudden attention to liquidity risk, and Markit is supposed to use bid-ask spreads together with dealer information to create the five-graded liquidity score. They also plan to score asset-backed securities in the future. I am curious about whether the score will be a true success, such as many of the other Markit products such as iTraxx, or if the scores will simply be too coarse or too narrowly distributed around the center grade (3)? I am simply afraid that liquidity simply isn’t properly priced by the market (bid-ask spread). If that is a fact, are there profitable trading strategies to apply here?

Sports Betting: Kaki Bola to Kaki Judi?

Recently, market talk has increased on the possibility of an approval of a sports betting license in Malaysia. What? Malaysia? YES…

Introduction to Sports Betting…

For “kaki bola”, sports betting definitely not a strange activity for them – I am not saying that every ‘kaki bola’ also bets. As long as there was demand, almost any kind of sports in the world can become a common interest for betting. Example, tennis, baseball, badminton, golf, F1 racing, and even sepak takraw… Of course, we can not left out world’s most popular sports – football. According to some estimates, the illegal gaming syndicate market size is about RM10 billion, similar to the current 4D market size, of which the majority is from sports betting.

  

Further liberalization of gaming industry?

In Malaysia, 4D is the only legal betting activity that existed, besides going up to Genting Highlands. On the whole, further liberalization are positive, given that this would help enlarge the government revenue pie by taking market share from the illegal.

As soon as before World cup 2010?

I do not think that it can be implemented so fast because this must be brought-up to Cabinet for approval (a very complicated place now).

Sports betting a new opportunity for betting company?

Not necessarily. It all depends on how it is being implemented. The main issues were:

1. the extent of restriction being imposed by government
2. high prize payout ratios involved 
3. gaming taxes to be borne
4. agent commissions to be paid
5. sports betting is much more complicated than normal 4D betting

The prize payout ratios for sports betting are very high, at 90-95%. Depending on the type of sports betting allowed, the prize ratio would vary. Example, a win/lose/draw system, as practiced in Singapore, got a lower prize payout ratio than betting on an odds system.

  

I believe that government would not allow an online betting system, as this would involve a whole set of other risks and control issues, like currency exchange. As such, the license would likely be for betting via the existing 4D outlets with a win/lose/draw system. This is because an odds betting system, with live features, must go through the un-control-able online mode, which is not encouraging.

  

However, win/lose/draw betting is NOT so popular to punters, given the more exciting nature of the odds system of betting available in the illegal market. Convenient wise, this would lose out, as punters had to place a bet physically at 4D outlets, as compare with a phone call in illegal market.

Economy: Cash Greets Greece

After months of speculations and rounds of discussions, all the European Stars reunite at last, as shown in EU flag. On 12th April 2010, the euro zone nations have agreed on a Euro30 billion rescue package for their heavily-indebted partner - Greece. The finance ministers of the 16 European Union nations, who have euro as their common currency, finalized the details of their bail out plan for Greece.

The annoucement comes amid mounting concern in the financial markets about the cash strapped Greek government's ability to service its staggering debts of more than Euro400 billion, thus, pulling down euro to very low level recently.

How was the package like?

Under the package, it will cover a 3-year fixed 5% interest loan and the amount of the loan could be increased over the next 12 months. The European loan is likely to be shared proportionally based on the breakdown of the ECB's capital. The IMF will complete the plan with a Euro15 billion loan at an adjustable rate based on the special drawing rights rate.

Yield falls...

The yield on the country's 12-month T-bill plummeted to 5.28%, suggesting the threat of a near-term default had been lifted. Today, Greece is going to auction Euro1.2 billion T-bills, which is now deemed as "Zero-Default Risk". Wow!!!

Uncertainties remain...

Although the emergency aid fund may reassure investors and make them more willing to continue buying Greek bonds, uncertainties remain over the long-term prospects for reducing Greece's debt mountain, which have dented confidence in the euro.

The Greek official said the government would decide within a few days whether to ask for the aid, depending on whether market interest rate would subside. Anyway, 5% interest bearing loan provided, is well below current market rates of about 7.3%. Assistance for subsequent years would be decided later.

What's next?

Over the next 2 years, Greek economic activity is likely to continue to decline. Euro is expected to appreciate with French and German bonds yield to increase slightly. I think that UK could be the next concern for the market.

Source: BNP paribas, Reuters, WorldNews, Bloomberg

Se upp så inte din bank också byter ut dina fonder utan din vetskap!!

Nu har jag lärt mig ett nytt problem med fondsparande. Fondförvaltare kan byta ut din fond mot en annan ”liknande” fond om de vill! Med kort varsel och md ett minimum av information till dig, d.v.s. till ägaren av fonden. Och liknande betyder inte alltid liknande.....Mycket irriterande!

Detta hände mig härom veckan då en Tysklandsfond jag hade på en bank som jag i nuläget ej vill hänga ut (alla banker är säkert lika goda kålsupare) och därför kallar Pucko Bank plötsligt visade sig ha bytts ut mot en Europe Small Cap fond!! Lagom lika!!! Alla som läst min blogg vet att jag inte likställer tyska aktier med europeiska aktier.... Den enda information jag fått var ett meddelande till en mail-inbox hos Pucko Bank som jag aldrig läser eftersom de normalt är helt ointressanta och av karaktären ”köp ditten eller datten av oss nu innan det är för sent”..... Ett ytterligare problem är att fonden inte förvaltas av Pucko Bank utan av ett fondbolag, Parasit Fonder kallad i denna blogg, i Danmark men med juridiskt säte i Luxemburg.

Hur kan det då komma sig att de får göra så här, för det får de, även din bank!!! Jo, gången är den att fondbolaget kontaktar finansinspektionen, i detta fall inspektionen i Luxemburg, med en förfrågan om att få flytta fondmedlen till en annan fond eller slå samman dem. För att få tillstånd måste den nya fonden vara liknande och det är här ett stort problem dyker upp. Vad är liknande? Och är två liknande fonder lika också ett halvår senare när bytet verkligen sker (handläggningstiden kan säkert vara lång ibland)?

Jag har nu pratat med en handfull människor på finansinspektionen, banken och fondbolaget och en del förstår mina problem medan andra inte gör det. Jag tycker dock att Pucko Bank svikit mig genom att inte ge mig tillräcklig information och Parasit Fonder har svikit mig genom att flytta mina pengar till en fond som tydligt är annorlunda än den jag köpt och som jag inte vill ha. Även finansinspektionen i Luxemburg har svikit mig genom att godkänna bytet från en fond (Tyskland) till en annorlunda fond (med 22.61% tyska bolag).
Jag tycker detta är ett problem som finansinspektionen skulle ta tag i och att bara den som ger sitt medgivande ska vara med i fondbytet och att alla andra ska få sina fondpengar insatta på sitt konto om fonden läggs ner. Tills finansinspektionen ändrat detta så är lösningen på problemet att ofta, åtminstone en gång i veckan, logga in på bankens websida och läsa alla, d.v.s. alla, meddelanden. Tråkigt, tjatigt, inte alltid möjligt (typ om du reser i Kina), och enligt min mening en stor nackdel med fondspanade!

Epilog: Jag har sedan detta hände sålt mina Europe Small Cap fonder i Parasit Fonder och kommer aldrig mer köpa deras fonder. Jag köpte istället nya Tysklandsfonder hos Fidelity (med det namnet kan de väl inte svika mig….). Depån hos Pucko Bank hade jag tänkt expandera till ett proffesionellt tradingsystem men det kommer inte att hända nu. Får försöka med ngn konkurrent.

Why Ringgit is so strong now?

Recently, many of my friends asking me why Ringgit suddenly is rising so fast in value?

Well, this is not a bad question though for Malaysians. In contrast, for those who working overseas, and converting to Ringgit regularly, would become poorer as a result. In fact, many Malaysians working in Singapore especially, might think that RM is generally weakening against SGD over the long-term. It's TRUE if you are saying since "Dot-Com" burst. 

Could this be a turning point now?

From the graph above, it shows clearly that the trend of decreasing value of SGD against RM. Reasons being that optimism of Malayisan economy is going to grow faster than many predicted. This has whetted foreign investors' appetite for local assets, including stocks and bonds.

World Bank recently raised its forecast for Malaysian economy to grow at a faster rate of 5.7% this year, compared with its earlier forecast of 4.1% made in November. As a result, local equity and bond markets are experiencing strong flowing-in of foreign money, spurred by strong growth prospects and favourable government policy moves. Malaysia goverment securities (MGS) is one of the ringgit-denominated asset which could give foreign funds liking to deposit, given its huge liquidity.

Anyway, the main reason behind the strengthening of Ringgit started when Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) raised overnight policy rate (OPR) from 2% to 2.25%. And, many analyst are expecting another hike on May 13 meeting. The recent rate increase and the prospects for further hikes are supportive of the ringgit's further rise.

In Asia Pacific region, Bank Negara was among the first central banks to raise key interest rates, after Vietnam and Australia, as policymakers expect economic growth to strengthen further, or to prevent another asset bubble from being inflated. Consequently, ringgit is one of the best performing currency year-to-date.

Hint: Ringgit will strengthen further against USD, and SGD somemore...

New Fund: Public Far-East Alpha-30 Fund

Tag: "Achieve higher potential returns by investing in 30 choice stocks". Yet, Public Mutual is launching another new equity fund which focuses its investment in 30 choice stocks listed in domestic and regional markets with the aim of achieving potentially higher returns over the medium to long-term. The fund is suitable for aggressive investors.

What is Alpha?

Alpha is defined as excess returns obtained as a result of certain investment strategies undertaken by a fund. One of the strategies for a fund to achieve alpha or excess returns is via "focus investing" which involves maintaining a concentrated portfolio of up to 30 stocks that are expected to outperform the broader market over time.

Funds which practise focus investing are suitable for investors with higher risk profiles seeking potentially higher returns as the fund's concentrated portfolio may result in increased volatility over short-term periods. 

To achieve increased diversification, the fund my invest up to 98% of its net asset value (NAV) in selected Far East markets which include South Korea, China, Taiwan, Japan, Hong Kong, Philippines, Indonesia, Singapore, Thailand, India, Australia, and other permitted markets.

Initial Offering Period : 6 - 26 April 2010

Service Charge          : 5.50%

Minimum Investment  : Rm 1,000

Minimum Top-Up      : Rm   100

Initial Issue Price        : Rm 0.2500

Source: Public Mutual, The Star

Är ni trötta på låga bankräntor? – Del VI

Som den som läst min blog ett tag vet så har jag tjatat en del under 2009 om att staten skulle/borde ge sig in i finansieringen av småföretag i Sverige. Läs t.ex. Är ni trötta på låga bankräntor? från februari förra året där jag föreslår mina Svenska Tiger-lån.

Nu verkar det som fler insett det nödvändiga i att staten ger sig in i denna "business" och det tycker jag är kul. Marcus Wallenberg m.fl. skriver om sitt förslag, vilket skiljer sig från mitt genom att utgöra equity i stället för debt, i gårdagens Dagens Nyheter. Se artikeln här Staten och kapitalet bör skapa nya fonder

Hoppas både stat och kapital nappar! ".......Sida vid sida, tillsammans kan dom hjälpas åt....."