Reader Twinbearer made the following changes to one of the most downloaded forms on Meshio.com:

1. address (both can just be typed in)
2. selection of dates from calendar
3. particulars of card holders (name, card no, card type, expiry)
4. add the print button (visible on the form, but do not appear when printed)

Here’s the PDF web preview:

To harness the ‘full power’ of this form, download this form onto your computer and open it with Acrobat Reader, since most of the new features added by Twinbearer doesn’t work on the web preview.

People just love challenges, and if you can provide challenges that’s meaningful and measurable, the chances that the challenges will result in actual improvements is much greater.

For example, the cashier has a daily error margin of 5%, you must measure this every day and reduce it to an acceptable figure, say 1%. This way, the person manning the cashier machine will know that everyone is monitoring his performance.

Another example, the driver who goes out for delivery service. You might want to track how efficient his delivery route is, and how long it takes for each trip. The idea is to ensure that he covers the longest distance in the least amount of time. These factors are definitely measurable.

When something is measurable, people becomes more accountable and performance-centric, simply because there is now a better way to gauge their value.

Measuring total sales is useless, simply because sales are derived from a lot of activities. Measure the little challenges that adds up to the sale, that’s going to give you the most impact.

Yup, if my memory serves me right, Amanah Saham Wawasan (ASW2020) did not issue any new units in the year 2008. I only remembered them declaring distribution last year.

So, the news is out that PNB will be launching 3.30 billion units of (Amanah Saham Malaysia) ASM effectively today and 2 billion units of ASW2020 on 27th April.

(BERNAMA) Permodalan Nasional Bhd (PNB), the country’s biggest fund manager managing RM76 billion worth of funds, will offer 3.33 billion new units of Amanah Saham Malaysia (ASM) and two billion Amanah Saham Wawasan 2020 (ASW 2020) units, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak announced today.

He said the units would be sold from tomorrow at all the 1,500 agents and Amanah Saham Nasional Bhd offices country-wide while the ASW 2020 units can bought from April 27.

Each investor can buy a maximum of 20,000 units in the two schemes.

The announcement on the new unit trusts offer, which would enable more Malaysians to participate in the capital market, was made by the prime minister when launching the 2009 Malaysian Unit Trust Week here.

The unit trust week, an annual event, is to boost awareness and understanding on investment and importance of planning one’s finances.

This is the track record for ASW2020:
ASW2020 return for 2001 – 7.25%
ASW2020 return for 2002 – 7.25%
ASW2020 return for 2003 – 6.60%
ASW2020 return for 2004 – 7.00%
ASW2020 return for 2005 – 7.10%
ASW2020 return for 2006 – 6.80%
ASW2020 return for 2007 – 7.10%
ASW2020 return for 2008 – 7.00%

Track record for ASM
ASM return for 2008 – 7.80 sen
ASM return for 2009 – 6.25 sen

Since everyone’s entitled to only 20,000 units, there’s no need to prepare your camping gear. I am not sure how it works with the entire distribution outlets, but it’s not a good idea to bring too much cash while queuing up for these funds, especially in such difficult times. You could just easily ‘lose your entire capital’ even before you bought into them.

Alright, happy investing to all my dear readers!

If you changes money frequently for traveling purposes, it would be a good idea for you to ensure that the usual money-changer that you go to is not listed below (via Bank Negara):

With immediate effect, Bank Negara Malaysia has revoked the money-changing licences of the following money-changers:

1. KL Resources Sdn. Bhd.
2. Ashraf Ali Sdn. Bhd.
3. Thaj Trading Sdn. Bhd.
4. Jenama Sakti Sdn. Bhd.
5. Billion Fairview Sdn. Bhd.
6. Budget Holiday Sdn. Bhd.
7. Dataniche Sdn. Bhd.
8. Falcon Travel Service (M) Sdn. Bhd.
9. Fiscal Transit Sdn. Bhd.
10. Foreign Saga Sdn. Bhd.
11. Gess Sdn. Bhd.
12. Kemudi Ikatan Sdn. Bhd.
13. Naqia Premier Sdn. Bhd.
14. Relayan Jaya Sdn. Bhd.
15. Rezeki Lumayan Sdn. Bhd.
16. S.E.J Trading Sdn. Bhd.
17. Tunjang Lima Sdn. Bhd.
18. Unibeam Sdn. Bhd.
19. Wirama Alam Sdn. Bhd.

The licences were revoked under the Money-Changing Act 1998.

I was told by friends that one of the outlets that offers the best rate is Halasuria (M) Sdn Bhd (located on the Ground Floor of The Curve).

Here are 10 money management tips from the millionaires themselves (via Yahoo! Finance):

1) Start early to avoid financial pitfalls.

2) Believe that you can do it.

3) Articulate your vision for success.

4) Insure against life’s risks.

5) Work hard–and you’ll get lucky.

6) Practice smart budgeting.

7) Do what you love.

8) Decide how much money you really want.

9) Invest against the grain.

10) Live below your means.

The list certainly does not tell us anything we don’t already know. Maybe the reason why it’s not working for some of us is that while we continue to look up more secrets of the riches, the real millionaires are busy putting these secrets to practice in their lives.

I’ve been pondering for some time if I should put up a discussion forum, and it remains a thought until recently when a friend brought it up again during a casual chat.

Since the chat, I began reflecting on the viability of the forum format and how it could work on Meshio.com. Perhaps I should just continue to post as I’ve been doing for the past in this blog, and allow the discussion to take place in the form of comment threads.

Without a forum, the content of Meshio.com will be more like a serial conversation, whereby I post something which I feel is interesting, and then any reader who is interested in the topic would reply to it. If no one’s interest, then obviously they won’t be any comments.

Visitor trend on Meshio.com from Jan 2007 to March 2009

With the number of visitors growing (chart above shows the visitor trend from Jan 2007 to Mar 2009), this method of interacting is becoming somewhat restrictive. For example, readers sometimes email me with rather complex questions and answering these questions can sometimes take quite a bit of time. And it becomes quite a task especially when the questions are not as simple as asking what’s the current base lending rate is or how do I complaint about Bank ABC?

To solve this problem, the best solution would be a forum, where readers can initiate their questions and other readers who’re experts on the issue can help them out. Yes, there are quite many experts that hang around this place.

However, the problem with a forum is this: a forum can only be useful if there are lots of interactions amongst its users. So, here I am with a Catch-22 situation. You cannot start a successful forum with lots of interactions, unless you pay everyone RM1.00 for every post they contribute.

But alas, this problem is not new. Just like starting a business, your ultimate aim is to become profitable, and you don’t become profitable on your first day of business. It’s going to take time. And so it is with this Personal Finance Forum. It’s going to take time and effort, and every registered member who participate in this forum is going to be an important part of this development.

With the blog, at least I have some sort of control on how to grow it. To increase readership, I can work on my writing skills. I can also network around with other bloggers. I can read up extensively on my subject matters and ensure that I post consistently.

However, with a forum, the direction of the content is distributed amongst the contributors (if any) allowing the readers to take charge. I guess this is what makes a forum interesting, the idea of free-flowing discussions.

So, let’s hope this new forum will help spark some interesting discourses!

Got a topic in your head now?