Hello Grasshoppa,
Recently I have been really really lucky to have a chance to engage with few veteran Personal Finance & Investment Blogger in Malaysia. Those bloggers are the one that really inspire me to start my blog after years of following their blog. After years of reading their content, I finally decided to contact them to see if they are willing to participate in an Interview with me & the good news is, they said YES 🙂
For the next 3 weeks, I will be featuring 5 Interview that I have done with 3 Malaysian Personal Finance & Investment Blogger & my 2 Mentor. You have no idea how these people actually impact my life. Sound abit dramatic? LOL. But it’s true. They kinda impact my life here & there.
This week, I will be featuring my Interview with Suraya from Ringgit Oh Ringgit.
1. Can you give our readers a short introduction about yourself?
I am: more of a minimalist, less of a consumerist, a konon DIY enthusiast, let’s support small businesses over big corporations kinda girl. I value frugalism as a way of life, prioritise value for money, and tend to spend money on experiences. I like to use my money as a tool to improve my life satisfaction and happiness.
2. What inspires you to start your blog?
Back in 2015, there were not many Malaysia-based personal finance blogs around. There were financial websites, sure, but I wanted to read personal experiences, not some content produced for marketing purposes (not that anything’s bad with that). So I just decided to create Ringgit Oh Ringgit.
3. What is your financial goal?
Earning enough passive income to cover my expenses. I want to be financially comfortable to the point where working is an option, not a necessity. At the end of the day, I value time the most.
4. Where do you learn about investing or financial planning?
Books, online sources like websites and blogs, or from asking around (online and offline).
5. Can you share a glimpse of your investment portfolio or what are you currently investing in?
I invest in:
- ASB
- Unit trust (PRS)
- Gold
- P2P Lending (very new)
- Crypto and ICO (around 10 or so different ones)
I’m also researching ETFs and stocks, and curious about property investment.
6. Do you track your spending? If yes, how?
Yes! Big fan of tracking my expenses. I used to write notes, but have been using an app for years. If I put it in steps, it’ll look like this:
- Step 1: Make whatever purchases I need for daily life
- Step 2: Enter it in the expense-tracking app in my phone
- Step 3: Review it occasionally and make mental notes to adjust spending in the coming days/weeks/months
I also share my spending every month, in my monthly budget update posts.
7. What is your worst financial or investment decision you ever made?
The first thing that comes to mind was a cosmetic procedure – did an under-eye dermafiller thing which costs RM3600..
As for investment, non that I can think of. I’ve lost some money here and there, but consider them as expensive lessons instead.
8. How do you define success in your life?
Hard question. I have no definite end goal – I just know I want to keep getting better, and have goals to progress towards. I ‘d consider myself successful if I don’t remain stagnant in life.
9. Any advice to the readers on investment or financial planning?
Not an advice, but rather an observation. So many people think there is this one ‘quick fix’ to solve all financial woes and bad financial habits. That’s not the case. Being ‘good with money’ is an accumulation of good habits. It requires you to be aware of your behaviours and make small adjustments over time to keep improving yourself. There are lots of unlearning in the process too – what we learned from our family and the media are not necessarily good for you, financially speaking.
If you do want an advice, here it is: always be sceptical of a financial product that appears to be too good to be true. There are no such thing as getting 30% monthly profit with no risk involved.
THANK YOU Suraya for taking your time to complete this interview. Looking forward to work with you for more future opportunity.
You can also check her out on Social Media :
Twitter : SurayaROR
Facebook : Ringgit Oh Ringgit
Instagram : SurayaROR
Stay tune for next week as I will be having another veteran Personal Finance Blogger for another awesome interview. PS : He is STINGY 🙂
OSS!
