Malaysian with 5 Figures Income

KUALA LUMPUR: Fed up with day jobs and measly pay, a small but rising number of people have become full-time Internet entrepreneurs, some raking in five-figure salaries, often in the comfort of their living rooms.
A popular Internet income generator is through the sale of advertisement space in websites and blogs. Others sell anything from e-books to software, either authored themselves, or through an affiliate programme.
There are no statistics on the number of Malaysians who have gone full-time into online money-making ventures, although anecdotal evidence suggests more are doing so.
However, before Malaysians start jumping on the Internet income bandwagon, the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) has a word of caution: Beware of online scams.
“Surfers should not fall for get-rich-quick scams that are aplenty online. MCMC continuously monitors and acts on them,” said a spokesman from the regulatory body from the communications and multimedia industry.
But for those who have struck gold online, the returns are generous, not only in terms of pay.
Most work from home, which means they do not have bosses breathing down their necks, don’t have to get stuck in traffic jams and can spend more time with their families.
Liew Cheon Fong, who runs a technology blog (www.liewcf.com), claimed he was the first Malaysian to go into blogging full-time in 2005 in what started out as a hobby to share computing tips with friends.

The Kluang-based 27-year-old computer science degree-holder posts a few entries in his blog daily. He needs to keep his entries interesting to attract web traffic, failing which his income could dip.

One of his sources of income is Google Adsense, an online advertisement programme run by Internet giant Google. Liew gets paid whenever visitors click on advertisements placed on his blog.

Website operators who sign up with Google Adsense display advertisements related to their websites. For example, a blog on pets may feature ads on dog shampoo or pet grooming services.
Often, revenue generated online is in US dollars and credited into e-commerce facilities like PayPal. While Malaysians cannot withdraw money from PayPal accounts, many use them to make online purchases instead.

Unless you earn a monthly five-figure salary like Samsul Zamzuri Abu Bakar, 32, a Sungai Buloh-based Netpreneur (see accompanying story). He has opened an account with a United States bank which allows him to withdraw earnings credited into PayPal.
Then using his ATM card, he withdraws his money here.
But Samsul, who co-runs several blogs on gadgets like handphones and digital cameras, said many people have the misconception that entrepreneurs making money over the Internet involve “just working a few hours a day and spending the rest of the time watching their money roll in”.
Samsul spends up to 12 hours in front of a computer, either liaising with his co-bloggers, marketing his blogs or simply surfing the Internet for ideas or to keep abreast with the latest developments in technology.

There are also drawbacks when your sole income is derived from such unconventional means. A common complaint is erratic income.

In Samsul’s case, revenue peaks during the Christmas and the US summer seasons when sales of technology items go up, while for the rest of the year, earnings can be slow.

Last June, Liew’s income was badly hit when Google dropped his blog’s ranking, resulting in a drastic reduction in the number of visitors to the site. Liew has since recovered after Google upgraded his ranking. Now, almost a quarter of a million visitors go to his blog per month.
Gobala Krishnan, 27, who sells e-books and software online, said it was more important to plan ahead and follow it through. Otherwise, his earnings would be affected in the long-run. He claimed to be making RM20,000 to RM30,000 per month.
How does one identify online cheats, especially since some of the operators are based overseas?
Krishnan offered his rule-of-thumb: “If it’s too good to be true, it’s probably a scam. Just like any business, Internet business takes capital, time and dedication.”

Malaysians lack financial planning, survey shows

ARTICLE FROM THE EDGE DAILY..

Johnson. Photo by Chu Juck Seng

KUALA LUMPUR: A survey on Malaysians’ money-management skills revealed scores of respondents who do not posess adequate financial literacy to steward their personal funds towards a solid retirement plan.

The Citi Financial Quotient survey of 400 people aged above 18 has unearthed Malaysians’ personal savings and investment habits, leading to possible conclusions that many are not prepared for rainy days should they stop working.

According to the online survey in October 2007, some 63% of respondents do not consciously save a portion of their salaries, while 70% felt they had average to poor understanding on how to manage and invest their money.

Meanwhile, about 80% of those polled said they did not have a formal retirement plan, crafted with the help of a trained financial planner, while half were uncertain about their retirement funds.

“On average, Malaysians say that their current savings would last 10 weeks if they were to lose their jobs, but still had to pay all their regular day-to-day expenses.

“Six out of 10 Malaysians are not very confident, or not confident at all that their retirement savings will lead to a comfortable life in retirement,” said Citibank Bhd vice president for marketing, and head of segment for global consumer group, Timothy Johnson yesterday.

The poll could, essentially, suggest that while many Malaysians would like to save, less than a third actually stick to monthly budgets. Many are also believed to be unsure of how much money they should have upon retirement.

Against the survey’s financial quotient gauge of 100 points, Malaysian respondents scored an average of 49 points with 58% hitting below the 50-point mark, a trend indicating room for improvement in local consumers’ financial habits.

Meanwhile, Johnson said Citibank may include will-writing into its portfolio of services in Malaysia to capture a slice of the untapped market segment where rival financial services providers had already made their presence.

“That could be... (but) at this point in time, we have no plans for that,” he said in response to the survey’s findings that only about a tenth of the 400 respondents had written their wills as part of their estate planning.

Applying the findings against Malaysia’s estimated 27.5 million population could mean an estimated 2.8 million people here could have written their wills, traditionally done by law firms.

However, the local will-writing landscape has seen the emergence of professional firms like Rockwills, besides other financial entities such as OSK Trustees Bhd and HSBC Bank Malaysia Bhd offering the service.