KWTBB - Kumpulan Wang Tenaga Boleh Baharu

I was looking into my house's electricity bill and I noticed that I was paying for 1.6% surcharge for KWTBB. The amount was small but it just captured my attention. Thus, I began to look into what this KWTBB is.

Not my bill. Just one that I found on the internet.

It turns out that this KWTBB is "Kumpulan Wang Tenaga Boleh Baharu". The name in English is "Renewable Energy Fund". The 1.6% levy for ‘Kumpulan Wang Tenaga Boleh Baharu’ is used to develop Malaysia’s renewable energy program. It is meant for maintaining a mechanism called the Feed-in-Tariff (FiT). The FiT allows homeowners and businesses to earn money by producing energy through renewable resources that will be fed into the utility grid for distribution throughout the country. In other words, those who participate in the FiT program will be generating energy that Tenaga Nasional Berhad (TNB) will use to produce the electricity that we consume on a daily basis. The idea is to reduce our reliance on fossil fuels as a source of energy (a non-sustainable option in the long run).

From what I have learned, only households that consume electricity above 300 kW (electricity bills that exceed RM77) are required to pay this surcharge. So, if you do not want to pay for this 1.6% surcharge for KWTBB, save more on your electricity usage.

Electricity Bill - How are we charged by TNB

I was curious about how our electricity bill is being calculated. Thus, I decided to do a bit of research on this topic. My first stop is Tenaga Nasional Berhad website, www.tnb.com.my. I have learned that there are many different types of tariffs, depending on which category you are in. But for the sake of our common people, we would be interested in only two tariffs: Tariff A for domestic tariff and Tariff B - Low voltage commercial tariff.

How does both this tariff is related to us?

Tariff A is meant for residential areas, such as your house, no matter it is a bungalow, linked house, apartment or condominium. The way the electricity bill is being calculated is the same.

Tariff B is for low voltage commercial buildings, which include service apartment that some of us may be staying in.

Below is the Tariff A and B:

So, for most of us that stay in houses, apartments or condominiums, we only look into Tariff A. From the way it is structured, the more that you use, the more that you would have to pay. Let us look into a simple home that used about 374 kWh.

For the first 200 kWh, we would have to pay RM 43.60 (200 kWh x 21.8 sen/kWh)
For the next 100 kWh, we would have to pay RM 33.40 (100 kWh x 33.4 sen/kWh)
For the balance 74 kWh, we would have to pay RM 38.18 (74 kWh x 51.6 sen/kWh)

Thus, the total payable is RM43.60 + RM 33.40 + RM 38.18 = RM 115.18

But if your house used about 748 kWh, you would have to pay a lot more

For the first 200 kWh, we would have to pay RM 43.60 (200 kWh x 21.8 sen/kWh)
For the next 100 kWh, we would have to pay RM 33.40 (100 kWh x 33.4 sen/kWh)
For the next 300 kWh, we would have to pay RM 154.80 (300 kWh x 51.6 sen/kWh)
For the balance 148 kWh, we would have to pay RM 80.81 (148 kWh x 54.6 sen/kWh)

Thus, the total payable is RM43.60 + RM 33.40 + RM 154.80 + RM 80.81 = RM 312.61

If you look carefully, I deliberately double up the quantity from 374 kWh to 748 kWh to make a point here. While the total electricity is double, we are paying more than double for it. Thus, the best thing that we could do to minimize our electricity bill is to minimize our usage.

There are many tips that can help but the few that I find most helpful are the following:

1. Air-conditioning temperature to be kept at 25 or 26 Deg C.
2. Use mild temperature on water heater when taking a bath.
3. Iron your clothes in batch.

Do you have any other tips to help bring down the electricity bills?

The Market is Crashing!

The market is crashing! The market is crashing!

Truth be told, we are hearing this almost every day. And it really will crash. But the question is when and are you ready for it?

If you look back into historical data, the market will experience either a major or a minor crash every few years. And what happened soon after that? The market bounced back from the crash and moved on to achieve new highs. Don't believe me? Here are some records:

The market crash is not something that you should fear. Rather, you should anticipate it with eagerness. Just like when the shopping mall goes on sales every now and then, market crashes mean prices of stocks in the market are sold at under discount. This will be the best time to buy in and two the benefits in the long run.

What you should and should not do when a market crashes.

No. 1 - Don't do anything.

This is a very hard thing to do. Everyone is selling their shares like crazy because the price is going south. All the experts will be telling you that this is the end of the world. You will be tempted to sell too to reduce your losses. But if you have bought into a good company in the first place, keep faith that everything will be okay.

When the market crashed, as long as you don't sell your shares, you are only experiencing paper loss. It is nothing. Once the share price moves up again, you will recover the paper loss. And it definitely will.

No. 2 - Buy into great companies at a bargain.

Before a market crashed, do your research into companies that you think are good or great companies. Know what is their values and keep watch.

When the market crashed, a lot of companies shares will be sold at a discounted price. Some of these will be companies that you might have researched. So, when the shares prices of these companies are a bargain, buy-in and let it grow.

John Bogle (1929 - 2019)

Three weeks have passed since the start of 2019.

In the financial world, one great figure has passed away.

He is no other than John C. Bogle. 

For those that do not know him, you might have heard of the company that he established, the Vanguard Company. He is also the person that "created" the first index fund, which is different from the many mutual funds/unit trusts that are in the market.

An index fund is a type of mutual fund with a portfolio constructed to match or track the components of a market index, such as the Standard & Poor's 500 Index (S&P 500). An index mutual fund is said to provide broad market exposure, low operating expenses and low portfolio turnover. 

The most significant difference between an index fund and other funds is how passive it works, minimizing the operating expenses.

Below are his eight basic rules for investors:

1. Select low-cost funds
2. Consider carefully the added costs of advice
3. Do not overrate past fund performance
4. Use past performance to determine consistency and risk
5. Beware of stars (as in, star mutual fund managers)
6. Beware of asset size
7. Don't own too many funds
8. Buy your fund portfolio – and hold it

This is one of his best-selling books, The Little Book of Common Sense Investing: The Only Way to Guarantee Your Fair Share of Stock Market Returns

12 Personal Finance Books for a Year

If you know me in person, you would know that I am a bookworm. I read lots of books. Fortunately, I have migrated to ebooks. Otherwise, I would not have enough place at home to put those books that I want to read.

Nevertheless, I would like to share 12 books related to personal finance that I believe will help us to be more financially intelligent. I have read 8 of them while the balance 4 is highly valued by others. Of course, I will be reading them too when I have a chance.

Without further ado, please find these 12 books as below:

1. The Millionaire Next Door by Thomas Stanley and William Danko (Eyes opening)
2. Your Money or Your Life by Joe Dominguez and Vicki Robin
3. The Richest Man in Babylon by George S. Clason (love this book)
4. The Wealthy Barber by David Chilton (love this book)
5. The Millionaire Mind by Thomas Stanley
6. More Than Enough by Dave Ramsey
7. The Simple Path to Wealth by JL Collins (this is my favourite book)
8. The Automatic Millionaire by David Bach
9. The Little Book of Value Investing by Christopher Browne
10. Smart Couples Finish Rich by David Bach
11. The Compound Effect By Darren Hardy
12. Rich Dad, Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki (My first personal finance book)

Have you read these books? What is your comments?

Bigpay Mastercard - A Review

I just got my Bigpay MasterCard. It looks really cool. 

(remember to use my referral code to sign up: UGWYQQD9MS) 

I am sharing the good things about this Bigpay Mastercard here for you to decide for yourself...

Bigpay let you receiving exclusive AirAsia benefits when you use your card with AirAsia: 

1. RM0.00 payment processing fees. 

2. Discounts on pre-booked check-in luggage and in-flight meals.

3. Exclusive early access to AirAsia sales. 

4. 1 BIG point when you top up RM50 and 1 BIG point for every RM20 spent on BigPay.

Skip the long queue at the money changer with Bigpay because it also gives you the most competitive rates when you exchange your Ringgit to any other foreign currency. To do this, just insert your card into any ATM in that country and you will get the foreign currency that you need.

Do note that overseas ATM withdrawals will be charged at RM 10 per transaction while withdrawals done in Malaysia is subjected to a fee of RM6 per transaction. 

BigPay also allows you to send/receive money to and from friends instantly and without any fees.

The best thing for me regarding Bigpay is how the app would break down your expenditure in the app itself. This will be a great way for people who want to track their spending.

So, if you are interested in signing up with gives, remember to use my referral code: UGWYQQD9MS. You will get RM10 from Bigpay as a bonus after you top up your Bigpay with a minimum of RM20. (I will get RM10 too).

Afterwards, when you share Bigpay with others using your referral code, you can get more bonus from Bigpay once they signed up.

Get your money back via Shopback

It has been a long while since I last post something here. I have been working hard in the background on a project about personal finance for Malaysian and up until now, it is about 20% done.

Nevertheless, I still look around for opportunities to better optimized my finance and finally, I found myself on the website of Shopback.

If you don't know what it is all about, Shopback is a free service that helps you to get back some money from what you have purchased. Do note that Shopback only covers some companies.

You can get back up to 11% of your purchase which I think is incredible.

The next best thing about Shopback is how you can actually refer others to Shopback and you will get some referral fees. Terms and conditions apply, though.

Nevertheless, if you have not use Shopback just yet, sign up today and get back your money when you spend online.