10:11 am - M'sia inflation comment by Ang Kok Heng

RACING WITH INFLATION

Dear Investors,
For this month's Smart Money, our topic of discussion is 'Racing with Inflation'.
Malaysia inflation soared to 3.8% in May from 3.0% in April compared to prices a year ago. The situation should deteriorate further over the next few months after the 41% fuel prices hike in early June. Suddenly, all the price increases seem to come concurrently and they are the essential items such as our staple food; rice, steel for the construction industry and now petrol for passenger cars and diesel for the transport industry. After the cut in gas subsidy, electricity tariff has just joined in the race in July.

To counter the higher urban inflation and prevent further erosion of the savings there is an urgent need for urban folks to learn how to invest the passive savings so as to achieve higher returns. Keeping too much money in the banks will only lead to diminishing value of money which will value less upon retirement in real term. When coming to investment, average Malaysian will relate that to taking higher risk which may also mean losing more money instead.

It is true that there are risks in most investment. However, the risk can be mitigated by having a thorough understanding of the investment such as how it works and where the profit comes from. Investors need to spend some time to learn more about any investment products be it properties, stock and shares, unit trusts, structured products, dual currency or equity-linked notes. Talking to experienced professionals who understand the investment will help.

To achieve higher return and to race ahead of inflation, city folks may have to work harder to ensure the return of savings is higher than urban-inflation rate. Taking cognisant of that, investment will ensure that our passive money works harder for us. As inflation does not wait for us, the earlier we start to wake up from the laurels and let our passive investments work harder, the earlier we can catch up inflation. The first move is to open our mind to learn more about other investment products.

A thorough understanding of an investment product is needed before we start investing.

Ang Kok Heng ,CFA
Chief Investment Officer
Email: kokhenga@poems.com.my