How Thrifty Are We Malaysians???

How thrifty are Malaysians??????  The Chinese are generally very thrifty.  They are careful about two things in their lives.  Firstly with regards to their money and secondly they care about their children education.  Among the Chinese the Hokkiens are more thrifty than the Cantonese.  Thats why per capita there are more billionaires and millionaires among the Hokkiens compared to the Cantonese.  Lim Goh Tong, Robert Kuok, Yeoh Tiong Lay, Vincent Tan, Khoo Kay Peng, Lee Kim Yew, Tee Hock Seng etc etc are all Hokkiens.  The notable Cantonese tycoons are Dick Chan and Chan Ah Chye.

Among the Indians they do practices thriftiness.  Its no accident that Ananda Krishnan is a Ceylonese Tamil.  From this Ceylonese Tamil group comes many of the well known professionals in Malaysia.  Lawyers, doctors , engineers and what not.  They also at one time dominated the Civil Services as Officers and Chief Clerks (CCs) before the Malays came in, in large numbers in the 70s and 80s..

Among the Malays, those with Mamak blood are known to be thrifty (my wife is one of them.  During the 1997 Economic Meltdown she saved me and the family from going under through her shrewd investments).  Kelantanese (the Nik Ahmad Kamil clans) , Minangkabaus (Melewar Group, Antah Group at one time) and Kedahans (Tun Daim, Syed Mokhtar AlBuhary to name a few) know the value of money and are careful about their wealth. They are good and shrewd  businessmen and women. Tun Daim (a Mamak) owns Banks in West Africa and Eastern Europe.

Perakians are not a thrifty lot especially with their sayings  "Biar pape asal bergaye" or roughly be well groomed with style even if it makes us  poor. This is not the norm even though the majority practice it. But Raja Azurin of the Perak Royal Family is in the Millionaire group.  She is an exception to the general rule. 

The bottom line is that we all need to be thrifty and avoid extravagant life styles in order to really enjoy our life and not be hit by poverty through our carelessness and wastefulness..  Wallahu A'lam.
 

 

 

 

Thriftiness: Make Money By Saving Money

Let's face it, we're a nation of overspenders.  Advertisements seduce us into buying stuff that isn't really worthwhile, and credit cards enable us to delay the financial consequences of overspending.  On a more personal level, people often buy material goods because they hope to impress others with a status symbol.  In reality, it is your personal qualities that will impress or turn away other people.  The more money you allow to fly out of your wallet, the more time you'll need to spend working to replace that money.

Getting Motivated: Use Less, Spend Less

Make your money work towards helping you do something you really love doing!  Think about it this way:  A dollar saved is two dollars earned.  For most people, about 50% of spendable income is sucked away by various taxes, so saving a buck is twice as useful as earning one.

To reduce overspending, just do these four simple things:

	Thriftiness: Make Money By Saving Money   Time to complete:   Varies Money you'll spend:   $0 What you'll get:   Varies Step-by-step instructions:  Think about what is really important to you, what you've enjoyed most in your life.  To what extent was spending money necessary for your enjoyment?  Were there less expensive ways of getting enjoyment out of life? Whenever you buy something, think twice.  Just before you place the order, think about the amount of time and work you need to exchange in order to acquire the purchase.  Was it worth it? Save your receipts.  At the end of each month, look at your spending.  Did you enjoy your purchases as much as you thought you would?  You'll probably be surprised at how expensive some of your spending patterns are.  What were the most costly expenses, and how can you reduce them? Think about how you want your situation to improve.  Try to imagine what it is you really, really want.  Do you need to save more money in order to achieve it?  Do you want to... Take more time off work, to enjoy your life more? Buy something you haven't been able to afford, until now? Apply your savings towards accomplishing your greatest dream? Buy an improved education for yourself or your children? Move to a better neighborhood? Get a job doing what you enjoy most? Start your own business enterprise? Save for retirement or a rainy day? Spend it on a person or worthy cause that you love? For some more ideas on thrifty living, visit the Dollar Stretcher's Voluntary Simplicty articles. Further Reading: The Dollar Stretcher has a large number of articles about all sorts of money-related topics, many of them contributed by the over 100,000 readers of its newsletter. Cheapskate Monthly also has many excellent thrift tips, slanted mainly to homemakers. Consumer Magazines to help you get the most for your dollar, free trials available. Mary Hunt's the Complete Cheapskate, a top-rated book about saving money and getting out of debt, available at Amazon.com. The Complete Tightwad Gazette, a top-rated book about thrifty living, available at Amazon.com.