But don’t worry. Chin Yi Xuan, a trader at a Malaysian proprietary trading firm and a financial content creator, spills the beans on how to more than just survive – but thrive – in turbulent times.
Chin, 29, is an economics graduate from UM, and regularly shares his expertise through his blog and social media posts. His goal is to empower Malaysians to take control of their finances.
Although he started his blog in 2018, it wasn’t until 2020 that people began paying attention to his content.
“During the pandemic, people were stuck at home and didn’t know where and how to spend their money. They started to learn how to invest and how to sell or buy stocks. Coincidentally, I covered some of these things on my blog and people found it helpful,” Chin told FMT Lifestyle.
Taking control of your finances
The first step to financial fitness is understanding your current situation. Chin lays it out plain and simple: track your income and expenses for a month. See where that moolah is throwing its weight around.
“If you can cut off spending that’s not essential, that could really help you gain a little bit more towards the end of the month. This is the easiest and most straightforward thing to do,” he said.
But that’s not all. Chin throws another nugget of gold into the ring: upskill yourself. Learn the tricks of the trade, like AI, coding, writing, or programming.
“You could consider doing this on the side apart from your full-time job,” Chin added.
Exploring foreign investment options
Additionally, Chin said the weakening ringgit can make foreign investments more attractive. However, “do your own due diligence,” he warned.
“The US stock market has been performing really well relative to the local stock market. If you have additional cash, that is on the side, idling, you could consider investing your funds or capital in the US stock market, because you gain exposure not just in the US stocks but also in US dollars,” he said.
According to him, investing in the S&P 500 (a stock market index that tracks the performance of around 500 American companies) is a good starting point for beginners.
“Instead of investing in a particular stock like Tesla or Apple, you will be investing in a very broad-based manner. This helps you relieve the risk. That’s what I personally do as well,” Chin explained.
Alternatively, Chin said Malaysians could consider opening up a money market fund that is denominated in Singapore dollars. Money market funds are highly liquid, offering slightly higher returns than a regular savings account and serving as a low-risk alternative to fixed deposits.
Some investment apps for you to consider are Versa and StashAway.
Saving and investing on a budget
Even with a tighter budget, saving and investing are crucial for long-term financial goals. “Start small,” Chin recommended.
“Make it a routine. No matter the amount, even if it’s just RM10, just save and invest on a routine basis. You will thank yourself later because one of the most difficult things about investing is to get started. Once you do, things become easier and you gain momentum from there.”
Automate your investment game, Chin advised, pointing out that there are many investment platforms available that allow you to do just that.
Picture this: capital working for you while you sip on your morning coffee. “Make it easy so that you don’t have to think about it and capital can continue to be invested regardless of how busy you are.”
Chin’s final piece of advice is not to be hasty when making investment decisions. He said many people, influenced by what they see on YouTube, rush into the stock and crypto market for fear of missing out.
“People don’t even understand what’s bitcoin or what’s the stock they are buying. They are just going to a market blindly. This trend is quite concerning. A lack of doing their own due diligence is a bad habit that I see among many investors nowadays,” Chin warned.
Read Chin Yi Xuan’s blog No Money Lah or follow him on Facebook and Instagram.