How I manage my credit card debts

One, two, three….Hey! I am talking about my plastics – credit cards that is! Three! These days it’s so easy to get one. You see initially I just own a Visa but one day while shopping at our local hypermart I got another two, one more Visa and a Mastercard just basing on my creditability of owning the first one!

But bad news I got myself stuck with debts as I could only manage pay each month the minimum amount of the total debts incurred. Then it occurred to me that if I don’t manage my spending I would be heading for financial disaster.

Here’s what I did to extricate from my financial woes:

1. Avoid all consumer debt and didn't borrow to spend.
2. Pay only with cash. When I pay with credit card, I paid off the total balance each month.

But now I have turned the table on credit cards and use them carefully as a powerful wealth tool. You too may enjoy these benefits:

1. A two-months interest free loan – how? When you buy in a month you will only be billed at that month end, but you got another month to pay off!
2. Use 0% APR Balance transfer Card – if for some reasons you are stuck with a high interest card you could transfer the interest bearing balance to one with 0%.
3. Bonus points – you earn points for every purchase and could redeem for free products and services.
4. A monthly statement that tracks all your expenses.

To get maximum effect I pay the full balance outstanding every month to rein my debts. Try it. It works!

Income Tax

This month is the month that all Malaysian, whose main source of income are derived from employment, dread. It's tax submission time! We all have to submit our tax return by the end of this month, otherwise, a penalty will be slapped on you.

I, too, dread this ordeal even though my vocation is in the accounting and finance field. My sympathy goes to those who are not so well versed with this thorny yearly affair called tax filing. Of course one can approach a tax agent to do his/her tax. But that can be costly for a wage earner where every single cents counts. These days, the cost of living is getting higher and higer!

There are two things in life that is certain: One is death, the other is tax! How true! One cannot escape from this fact of life. Every where there is tax - service tax, sales tax, real property gain tax, etc. Even in death one is not spared - there is this tax called estate duty!

But tax is one way that the government could distribute income fairly throughout society. Thus, the higher the income one gets the higher the tax you pay. I could almost hear you saying "Is that really fair?".

From my past dealings in assisting some friends to complete their income tax return form, they seem to have this notion that they should not pay tax at all! They would say "I worked so hard. Why should I share my money with the government? They are rich enough!". This is a misconception that they perpetuate in their mind.

I would always do my part as a loyal citizen to explain the philosophy behind this issue and perform my duty to submit the tax return promptly and as accurately as possible to the best of my knowledge.

So do your part as a loyal citizen! Go, file your tax return now!