An article by http://www.GenXGenYGenZ.com
INTRODUCTION
Please note this article was published in 2015 and Enrich has since inflated their redemption program, i.e. we need more Enrich Miles in 2018 compared to 2015 to redeem a Business Class ticket.
Previously, in my Comprehensive Tutorial on The Best Credit Cards to Earn FREE Frequent Flyer Miles, I showed you the quickest way to get a “FREE” Business Class ticket to Europe from your credit cards transactions. And within 2 years of owning the right credit cards, you can fly to Europe for “FREE” with just RM1,668 spending a month! And in this said tutorial, I have also proven to you that it may not be worthwhile to redeem for a Economy Class ticket because you will get better returns by redeeming cash vouchers (example AEON Cash Vouchers).
In the above mentioned comprehensive tutorial, I also taught you that by using 127,500 Enrich Miles earned from the wonderful Maybank 2 Cards Premier (AMEX Reserve and Visa Infinite), one can save RM12,780 for a return Business Class ticket KL/London. And in order to earn 127,500 Enrich Miles, one has to spend RM121,635 with the AMEX Reserve (locally or overseas) OR Visa Infinite (overseas only). Therefore, the savings of RM12,780 is like getting an equivalent “cash back” of 10.50% One still has to pay RM2,374.90 in taxes for the “FREE” return Business Class ticket KL/London BUT it is still much cheaper than buying a return Economy Class ticket priced at RM4,287 (inclusive of taxes)!
Now, some of you may say that – I am not going to redeem my Treats Points for Enrich Miles but instead go for FREE cash vouchers and go buy an Economy Class ticket KL to London. Well, I am going to show you that this may NOT be a smart move, i.e. buying a return Economy Class ticket outright KL to London instead of using your Treats Points to redeem a return Business Class ticket KL to London.
In my previous example in my Comprehensive Tutorial on The Best Credit Cards to Earn FREE Frequent Flyer Miles:
a. Economy Class Ticket KL to London will cost RM4,287 inclusive of taxes.
b. By spending RM121,635 with the AMEX Reserve and converting the Treats Points earned to 127,500 Enrich Miles to redeem for a return Business Class ticket KL/London, one only needs to pay RM2,374.90 in taxes.
c. Total savings between buying Economy Class ticket (RM4,287) – Taxes for FREE Business Class ticket (RM2,374.90) = RM1,912.10.
d. So you are actually saving money by redeeming for the return Business Class ticket KL/London. And the cash back equivalent is 1.57% (RM1,912.10/RM121,635) which is better than redeeming cash vouchers earning you 1.25% (400TP = RM1 effective 1st May 2015 with the AMEX Reserve 5X TP).
Now, for some reason, not everyone wants to fly Business Class for FREE. And you have been shown examples previously that it may not be worthwhile to convert Treats Points earned from our Maybank credit cards to Enrich Miles in order to redeem a “FREE” Economy Class ticket; because, you may end up earning less in returns compared to redeeming cash vouchers where you will get 1.25% (400TP = RM1) cash back equivalent (for 5X TP).
And if it is not worthwhile for us to convert our Maybank Credit Cards’ Treats Points to Enrich Miles to redeem an Economy Class ticket, what is there to say about other credit cards from different issuers which give us much less in returns every time we use their cards to pay for essential stuff/expenses.
So if you do not want to fly business class, the other options you have to utilize your Treats Points are to redeem for selected stuff from the reward catalogue (e.g. smartphone, Coffee Maker, etc) or cash vouchers. Now, if you are using your credit card reward points to offset your credit card’s annual fee, you must be new to my blog…. Go lah beg for annual fee waiver or get a card that is FREE FOR LIFE (for example Maybankard 2 Cards which was Ranked No.2 in my list of Top 10 Best Credit Card in Malaysia!
But what if you are like me? I am not into redeeming goods because I am contented with what I have in my home (more like no more place to store new stuff) – flat screen tvs, refrigerators, air-conditioners, a microwave, two ovens, 2 Nescafe Dolce Coffee Makers (don’t even know where they are), a Philips Air Fryer, 2 bread makers, my wife’s tons of cooking utensils/cookware/dinnerware (AMC, Corelle, CorningWare, Pyrex and other unheard of brands from Cosway and direct selling agents), 8 units of PCs/notebooks in working condition, more than 10 tablets (iPads and Androids), tons of mobile phones, gaming consoles (XBox, Wii and PS), over flowing wardrobes with the girls’ shoes and clothes, tons of children’s toys in the storeroom, more than 5 guitars, etc, etc, etc.
As for redeeming a quartz watch, don’t waste your time as the watch won’t last forever. We only need one or two automatic watches (no need batteries for life; thus saving you the hassle of going to get a new battery every year or so). All you need is a Rolex plus a day to day entry level automatic watch (e.g. from Tissot or Oris). With a Rolex, we can get good money for it anywhere on earth, and it will still be ticking after we die.
As for redeeming cash vouchers for dining, clothing, electronic/electrical equipment and supermarkets or departmental stores, you should use your credit cards instead of cash vouchers to earn more Reward Points, hahaha.
So the question is – what is there to redeem if we are not into Business Class tickets or non-essential stuff for our daily survival or cash vouchers (which have expiry dates)? But we love money and would like to preserve our wealth for our future generations 🙂
In order to answer the question above so that is makes sense to you, I have decided to tell you a story. And the story is pretty long, as expected since the author has a reputation for producing freaking long winded articles, so much so it can be classified as a Fiction Novel and I think it would be a best seller soon.
Without further ado, I present to you my latest Fiction Novel (eBook) produced from my sick imagination:
THE ART OF DECEIVING AND SURVIVAL
Prologue:
It is the year 2015, where the government of Malaysia introduced 6% GST. As a result, the Rakyat has little choice but to once again adjust their lifestyle so that they spend within their means. Young people (GenY) who have been spoon fed and pampered all their life by their parents find it hard to stay afloat with their salaries which have not been adjusted accordingly with inflation for the last 2 decades, particularly those who just entered the work force. Many GenYs are in debt as they think 0% Instalment Plans are FREE Money and not treated as liabilities. As such, many young people still depend on their parents for survival when it comes to purchasing big ticket items (i.e. down payment for car and house) where they cannot go with the option of 0% instalment plans with their credit cards.
As for retirees who have ownership of their own homes, and in particular a double storey terrace house, in any of the cities in Malaysia, can most likely be classified as being among the wealthiest 10% of human beings on planet earth. However, many of them are still finding it very difficult to cope with the high cost of living (now even worst off with 6% GST) and their savings are slowly being depleted (e.g. money in FD). Most old people are not willing to enter old folks homes but instead prefer that their loving child/children take care of them in their own homes where they intend to die.
With the above in mind, let’s move on to Chapter I…….
Chapter I – Retirement
Not too long ago….. in 1995….. and not very far from the bustling city of Kuala Lumpur, a couple and their child lived in a double storey corner terrace house somewhere in Petaling Jaya. The husband (hereinafter referred to as “The Husband” or “the husband”) once worked in a senior managerial position in a big corporation and the wife (hereinafter referred to as “The Wife” or “the wife”) a domestic home engineer whose scope of works include being the maid, nanny, driver and cook to their only child. When the husband retired at age 55 in 1995, he had RM1 million in his EPF account and deposited the money into Fixed Deposit where he had planned to use the interest to pay for his daily survival. And in 1998 when we were facing a recession (more like a mini depression), the banks were so short of cash that they were offering 14% interest rate for FD. As such, the husband was getting RM140K per year from his money deposited in FD. In other words, it’s like he had more than RM10K every month (tax free) to go spend. And the said terrace house loan was fully settled prior to the husband’s retirement, so with the full ownership of the terrace house and having RM1,000,000 in cash, the husband was among the 10% richest human beings on planet earth!!!
And if you are a reader of mine, 100% you are or will be in the top 10% wealthiest person on earth unless you are really stupid by becoming a drug addict, addicted to gambling or too trusting and easily conned.
Chapter II – Spending Children’s Future Inheritance
In year 2000, they sent their son overseas (the son was 20 years of age as they had their son when both of them were 40 years old) for his matriculation and then tertiary education and he graduated and returned to Malaysia in 2005 to start his career. In order to finance their son’s education, the husband had to use up to RM300,000 of his savings from his FD and sold most of his blue chip stocks.
And ever since year 2000, Fixed Deposit interest rates have been hovering around 3%. This means in 2005, the husband was only getting about RM21K a year in interest from his FD (remaining RM700K in FD). This works out to be less than RM2K/month compared to the RM10K/month he was getting in 1998-1999. As such, the husband had no choice but to withdraw money from his Fixed Deposit periodically to pay for the couple’s expenses.
And because their son was young, never had to worry about money and mentally immature, he burned away his own entry level salary on clubbing, dining at Western/Korean/Japanese Restaurants, getting the latest hand-phone whenever one is launched so he can “shiok sendiri”, Apple Macbook instead of a cheapo Windows notebook, latest fashion, etc, etc; so, the son was broke most of the time. The husband had to pay the for his son’s Toyota Vios’ down payment (50% of the car price so that the son could afford the monthly repayment for 5 years) because the son refused to drive a Myvi and making the banks richer by opting for 9 years loan like everyone else. Well, at least the son is quite smart and chose a Jap car which is known for its low maintenance and good resale value over a European made car.
Chapter III – The “Kiasu” Husband Who Thinks Too Much
With the husband having to withdraw from his Fixed Deposit periodically to maintain his lifestyle, the money in FD was depleting at an alarming rate. After paying for their son’s Vios’ 50% down payment and the overseas holiday the husband and wife took to attend their only child’s university convocation, the husband only had RM600K remaining in Fixed Deposit earning him interest rate of RM18K per year.
Therefore, the husband realised that he was going to be broke very soon and was worried that his “good for spending his money son” will abandon his wife and himself once his money has been fully depleted. So, the husband thought and thought for days what to do until he remembered a story told to him when he was young about a poor uneducated old couple who lived in a small village centuries ago, who deceived their son and daughter in-law into taking care of them. This old couple pretended to count their bounty of gold coins every night but in actual fact they only had 2 gold coins. They would hit the two gold coins against each other repeatedly giving the impression they had lots of gold coins.
The husband then decided that he had no choice but to do the same to deceive his only child. He told his wife of his plan and she was equally concerned about being sent to an old folks home. The Wife could not bear the thought of not seeing her beloved son daily for the rest of her life.
So the husband was wondering where the hell is he going to get 2 gold coins? That year was 2006 and he was already 66 years old and his only income was a mere RM18K/year from FD interest. It was sometime in May 2006 and the husband prayed every night for a solution.
Chapter IV – The Advantage Of Having Evergreen Credit Cards’ Reward Points
Now, the husband used to work in a big corporation and had to fly overseas for business meetings and entertained clients at fine dining restaurants and then adjourned to night clubs for more business dealings. For more than 10 years, all the company’s expenses (business class tickets, hotel rooms, car rental, his company issued Volvo car maintenance, bills from entertaining clients, seminar fees, etc, etc) were paid using the husband’s American Express Charge Card whereby the company would reimburse him. So, the husband had 2,000,000 EVERGREEN Membership Reward Points in his American Express Charge Card Account! But the husband never bothered to redeem any of them, and on top of that, he happily paid the annual fees!
Chapter V – God Sent
On 8.8.2006 at around 3.38pm, GenX, while still a salaryman back then, had just finished a meeting with several lawyers at Damansara Utama and it was raining cats and dogs. So, he decided to go have a cup of coffee to enjoy with his cigarettes at a “Mamak” stall nearby to wait for the usual afternoon tropical thunderstorm to pass.
Click here to see GenX’s Online Profile
Just so happened on that very same wet and thunderous day, the husband had to go to the bank in Damansara Utama to withdraw more money from his FD and also decided to go to the same “Mamak” stall to wait for the rain to stop before heading home.
As GenX entered the Mamak stall, all the tables were taken up but he saw an elderly gentleman sitting alone, So GenX approached the table:
GenX: Uncle, can I sit here?
The Husband: Nodded his head without saying a word.
GenX shouted as he sat: Nescafe panas kurang kurang kurang manis.
GenX then turned to The Husband and said: Uncle, do you mind if I smoke?
The Husband: Young man, besides wasting your money, that thing will kill you and me faster (from second hand smoke)!
GenX: You are right uncle. My dad also says I’m stupid because I smoke.
The Husband: You young people only know how to enjoy without thinking about the consequences and whatever money saved today can go a long way in your retirement years.
GenX: Yah, yah uncle, my children all also simply spend my money. They want different Nike shoes for this and that. Do you know that there are Nike shoes that look like sport shoes but are actually labelled as dress shoes? When I was young, when I got a pair of multi-purpose Bata shoe I already so happy.
With the above ice-breaker, the husband and GenX talked for about an hour and one thing lead to another…. and one of them was the husband wanted 2 gold coins but did not know where he could get them for FREE. So, GenX, who amongst other things, is a dude who has fetish with credit cards, asked him if he had any credit card reward points?
Low and behold, the husband said he thinks he has 200,000 Membership Reward Points!
So, GenX, an American Express Charge Card Member Since 88, taught the husband that he could use the evergreen 200,000 AMEX Charge Card Membership Reward Points to redeem them for cash back worth RM1,000 (At that time we could redeem 200 MR = RM1 to be used as cash back to offset our AMEX Charge Card bills).
In 2006, gold was selling for about RM60 per gram. So GenX told the husband to go to Poh Kong and buy 2 gold coins using his AMEX Charge Card and then call Customer Service to convert his Membership Reward Points to Cash Back and thus not needing to pay a sen for the gold coins.
By then the rain had stopped, and GenX was in an agitated mood and was in urgent need to go for a smoke, so GenX said goodbye and disappeared into thin air in the eyes’ of the husband. The husband thought to himself – did God answer my prayers by sending that talkative young man to show me the path I am to take or to punish me with all his babbling?
Chapter VI – New Found FREE Money and FREE Holiday
The husband doubted what GenX had told him about using his AMEX Membership Reward Points at the Mamak stall in Damansara Utama. So, upon reaching home, the husband decided to research on the matter further. He called AMEX Customer Service and to his astonishment, he had 2,000,000 Membership Reward Points (the husband had poor eye vision because he had Glaucoma and had mistakenly read it as 200,000. And coincidentally, few years later, GenX too was diagnosed with Glaucoma and is now “unofficially” partially blind).
And with 2,000,000 Membership Reward Points, he was told that he could use it to offset his AMEX bills up to RM10,000 OR redeem Poh Kong Cash Vouchers OR even redeem Enrich Miles (5000 MR = 1000 EM). And best of all, the CS confirmed that he could request for annual fee waiver!
After hanging up the phone, the husband immediately thanked God for sending the Angel GenX to him. The husband then called Poh Kong to enquire about gold coins and was told that Poh Kong was selling 1g, 10g, 20g gold coins and gold bars too for about RM70/g (market price for gold was about RM60/gram versus today’s price of RM145/gram and you need to add “workmanship” cost for gold bought at jewellers).
So that night the husband did some calculations and concluded that with the 2,000,000 MR points worth RM10K, he could either get 14 pieces of 10g gold coins or 140 pieces of 1g gold bars. He decided to go with 14 pieces of 10g gold coins as it would be easier and safer for him to put into his pockets. Holding 140 gold bars in one’s hands is sure to attract snatch thieves in Klang Valley.
Then, the next morning while the husband was reading The Star, he saw an ad stating that Enrich Miles was offering 50% sale to Europe and one only needed 55,000 Enrich Miles to redeem for a return Business Class ticket. So, the husband took out the calculator and crunched some numbers and concluded that he only needed 550,000 Membership Reward Points to convert to 110,000 Enrich Miles for 2 return tickets to Europe and still have 1,450,000 Membership Reward Points remaining.
The husband then decided that he would surprise his loving and loyal wife with a trip to Europe. So he used 550,000 Membership Rewards Points to convert to 110,000 Enrich Miles. Use 1,000,000 MR to convert to RM5,000 cash back to pay for the FREE tickets’ taxes and surcharges. So, eventually he did not have to cough up a single a sen to take the wife to Europe on Business Class. The wife was so happy as she had not flown on Business Class before as the husband would only fly with Economy Class when he took the wife for holidays prior to this.
And with the balance 450,000 Membership Reward Points, he used them to “buy” 32 pieces of 1g Poh Kong Bunga Raya Gold Bars, i.e. the husband went to Poh Kong and purchased 32 pieces of 1g Poh Kong Gold Bars with his AMEX Charge Card and when the Statement arrived, he used the 450,000 MR and converted them to “cash back” to offset the purchase price – thus he got the 32 pieces of gold bars for FREE!!!
Chapter VII – Plans in Motion
The husband took the wife to Europe but refused to let her buy any Chanel, Dior, Prada, Gucci or LV handbags. The husband was not being stingy, it was because his money in FD was being depleted and he’s getting poorer by the day; and, as such he was under the impression that he could not afford luxury items for his darling wife. Whatever money remaining in FD was to be used for the husband and wife’s essential needs for the next 22 years (where both of them would be 88 years old).
After the husband and wife returned from their European holiday, the husband decided that he would put his plan into motion whereby the husband thought that he could deceive his son into believing that the husband was filthy rich, hoping that the son would not abandon him and would continue to take care of him in his old age.
So, Christmas eve dinner in 2006, the husband announced to his son the following:
The Husband: Son, from tonight onwards, after dinner mummy and I will adjourn to our room and you are not to disturb us unless the house catches fire.
The Son: OK.
The Husband: Son, one day you will inherit all my assets which I am proud to say is worth a lot of money – that is if you do not piss me off.
The Son: Huh? Why you talking about inheritance? Are you sick dad?
The Husband: Why you want me to be sick so you can inherit my assets sooner?
The Son: NO dad,…. never mind, forget about it.
So, after dinner, the husband and wife adjourned to their room. And the same thing happened the next day and the next and the next…… After a month, the son got curious and asked his mum why they adjourned to their room right after dinner and he could hear coins dropping onto the floor? (In addition to the 32 number of 1g gold bars, the husband also got himself 2 bags full of 20 sen coins!)
This is what the wife said: The Wife (trying to give a reasonable answer): Your dad has gone crazy. He went and converted all his cash into gold coins. You know how many bags of gold coins we have in the room? 3 bags full of gold coins.
The Son: Huh? Gold coins for what? Better put money in FD and get interest.
The Wife: You know lah, your dad is very stubborn and very hard to convince him to change his mind. So, what we do each night is count how many gold coins we have.
The Son: Why you guys want to count the gold coins? As if I want to steal them, I didn’t even know you are keeping gold coins in the room.
The Wife: (once again trying to justify with a good answer): No, it is not what you think. You see, I have heard many stories of old man being conned by China Dolls and your dad “pulak” worried that when I go to “pasar pagi” I’ll be conned by people who promote Scratch and Win Contest. So, both of us count the gold coins every night to make sure neither of us go used the gold coins or get conned.
The Son: Huh? Like that also can ah? You two really crazy lah.
Chapter VIII – The Son and One Big Happy Family
In 2008, the son switched to a better paying job with another company and started to mingle with frugal people who loved money more than anything. From there, he learned how not to burn money away, to save money and where to invest his savings. More importantly, the son had matured and stopped going out every weekend to get drunk. And since he no longer frequently got hung over on Sunday mornings (once in a while he does especially after attending a good friend’s wedding dinner where it is customary to “Yam Seng” but not frequently), the son takes his parents to go “jalan jalan” at the malls. And occasionally take sometime off from work and drive them to the hospital for their medical check ups.
Then in 2010, the son got married and the husband and the wife were so overjoyed that they spent quite a lot of money to celebrate the happy occasion in a 6 Star Hotel that accepted AMEX. And the husband had to once again withdraw some money from his FD to pay for the expenses.
Then in 2011, the husband become a grandfather and once again was so overjoyed that the husband threw a grand party to celebrate his grandchild’s birth at a well known upper class restaurant where they accepted AMEX. The husband also bought his son a reconditioned Toyota Alphard (because there is no such thing as a NEW Alphard in Malaysia – every one of them on the road are classified as imported used) so that the husband, the wife, the son, the daughter in-law and the newborn grandson can go jalan-jalan as one big happy family.
And the husband and the wife was having a wonderful time and was very happy that they had a grandchild to take care of and play with while the baby’s parents were busy at work in the day. And come evening, the new grandparents would pass back the baby to his parents and they would go back into the room after dinner and not to be seen again until the next morning.
All this time, the son had never again asked his parents what they did every night after dinner in their room. Actually he was not bothered and couldn’t care less as long as the old couple were happy. As for the daughter in-law, she was not the busybody type and respected the elders and as such did not bother what her in-laws did, as long as they were happy.
Chapter IX – You Can’t Take Your money To The Grave
Then suddenly in 2012, the husband passed away peacefully due to some sickness. He was 73 years old, just under the average lifespan of Malaysians. And in the husband’s will, he left the terrace house to the wife – “kiasu” but smart move, so that his son and daughter in-law could not kick the wife out (not saying they would but you never know…… people can change because of greed or when they are desperate for cash).
Now, the son had worked 6 years since he graduated and had climbed up the corporate ladder to a managerial position and could stay afloat with his monthly salary and had not asked for any money from his parents for the last 4 years. Moreover, the son’s wife was also a career woman, as such their combined income was more than adequate for their day to day expenses and were even able to invest some of their money.
After the husband’s passing, the son noticed that his mother no longer locked herself in the room after dinner and that he no longer heard her counting her gold coins. So he asked his mum why this was so. And his mother replied – “I no longer need to worry your dad would get conned by China Dolls”.
Not only that, suddenly the mother started to buy jewellery (1 carat GIA certified diamonds), Rolex watch with diamonds, and luxury handbags like Chanel and Dior for herself which her husband never ever bought for her. And the mother also became extremely generous. Besides paying for overseas holidays for her son and daughter in-law, she also bought a pair of 0.5 carat solitaire diamond earrings (GIA certified of course) and LV handbags for her daughter in-law. You see, other than the money the husband had in FD (about RM200K remaining), the husband left her with RM300K because he bought Life Insurance on himself when he was working (which was to mature when he turned age 80)! So the wife was loaded with cash (RM200K in FD plus RM300K Insurance Money!).
And when the wife wanted to withdraw the husband’s FD, all she had to do was walked into OCBC Bank and UOB Bank and presented her NRIC. You see, the husband, a smart and at the same time a kiasu person who planned ahead for everything, had deposited only with these two banks. OCBC and UOB Fixed Deposits are Statement Based and not Certificate Type like other banks. And the husband had told the wife – that should anything happen to him, the wife was to immediately go to UOB and OCBC branch in PJ and withdraw all the money in his name simply by presenting her NRIC and in no circumstance was she to reveal that he had passed away.
When the husband got his first child in 1980 at 40 years old, the husband wanted his child to go to one of the world’s top ranking universities. So, he bought a life insurance on himself and named his wife as the beneficiary. In the event that anything should happen to him, the sole breadwinner of the family, his wife’s and child’s needs would be taken care of. Not only that, he selected a policy with an Insurance Company that guaranteed that he only had to pay the Insurance Premiums for 11 years and nothing more after that as he was going to retire in 15 years time.
If my article titled Spending Children Future Inheritance, you’ll be taught that it’s better to spend your money now on your wife so that she will love you more and remember you as a generous person instead of her spending your money when you are no longer around and not being grateful to you, hahaha.
Chapter X – A New Member of the 10% Wealthiest Human Beings On Earth
Fast forward to present time…. year 2015 – unfortunately the wife was diagnosed with cancer (stage 4) unexpectedly and passed away at the age of 76 (above the average lifespan of Malaysians – women generally live longer than men according to statistics).
So with the mother’s passing, the son inherited the corner double storey terrace house in Petaling Jaya and overnight his assets (networth) was more than RM1,000,000 making him the newest member amongst the 10% riches human beings on earth! As for the cash the mother had, besides spending it away on luxury stuff and holidays, she had no choice but to burn it on medical bills (more than RM200K in ICU at a private hospital) as she did not have medical insurance. What remained from the wife’s RM500K (in 2012) was just adequate for the son to buy the wife a funeral plot! The husband was cremated according to his wishes.
In a way, the wife did the right thing by burning her money on material stuff and along the way managed to experience some wonderful temporary happiness while shopping and holidaying with her family. If she had not, the money would have been used to prolong her life in ICU for an extra few days but eventually the final outcome would still be the same. And another positive outcome of burning the money away was, that the wife’s luxury handbags, GIA certified diamonds, Rolex gold watch with diamonds etc, were passed on to the daughter in-law for taking care of the wife’s grandchild.
Chapter XI – FREE GOLD BARS FROM CREDIT CARDS TRANSACTIONS
So after the funeral, the son went into his parent’s room with the intention of packing their stuff. Then he remembered about the gold coins. He searched for them and finally located 3 heavy bags that seemed to be full of gold coins. So he looked into the first bag and was shocked to find it full of 20 sen coins!? Same thing with the second bag!!?? He was wondering what sick joke his parents were playing or maybe they were really crazy. Anyway, he opened the third bag and to his surprise, it really contained gold bars!
The third bag had more than 32 gold bars which his dad converted from his AMEX Charge Card Membership Reward points in 2006. You see, his dad and mum continued to use their credit cards for whatever expenses and continued to exchange the credit cards’ reward points to gold bars!!!
Between years 2007 and 2012, the husband had spent about RM400K with his AMEX Charge Card and earned about 800K of reward points (2X MR). He then used the reward points for more gold bars! Average price per gram of gold during this time was around RM110 and he managed to convert his 800K reward points to 36 pieces of 1 gram gold bars.
Between 2012 and 2015, the average price of 1 gram of gold was about RM150. But the wife was smarter, because she googled and came across a blog called Generations XYZ at Blogspot which was laden with ads and yet she became a loyal Follower and read all his articles because she had nothing better to do when she was not spending time with her grandson. It was the same GenX who had coincidentally met the husband back in 2006; but he had fired his ex-boss on 1.1.11 and started producing several blogs. And based on GenX’s recommendation, she applied for the Maybankard 2 Cards AMEX by pledging FD. And maybe it was also GenX who influenced her to go spend her child’s future inheritance by burning money on luxury handbags, Rolex watch and go holidays with the entire family so that the wife, the son, the daughter in-law and the grandchild had many temporary happy moments together.
The Wife then used the Maybankard 2 Cards AMEX (and earn 5% cash back too) to pay for her luxury stuff, hospital bills, holidays, and etc. So with the wife spending about RM500K with her Maybankard 2 Cards AMEX, she earned 2,500,000 Treats Points over a period of 3 years. She would then occasionally use On-The Spot redemption at Poh Kong (10,000 to 12500 TP = RM50) to exchange the Treat Points for Poh Kong Bunga Raya gold bars and eventually got herself 70 pieces of 1 gram gold bars. And now the son knows the mystery as to why his mother insisted on dropping by Poh Kong (while he waited in the car as instructed) to get some “Hibiscus” on the way home from the hospital the day before she passed away and looked happy and contented on her death bed.
All in, there were 138 pieces of 1 gram gold bars!!! And based on the current price of about RM140/gram, the 138 pieces of 1 gram gold bars are worth RM19,320. And this is all FREE money from the husband’s and the wife’s credit cards transactions. And the best thing about gold is, it can be passed from generation to generation as a method of wealth preservation 🙂
The End.
MORAL OF THE STORY AND CONCLUSION
1. Always be “kiasu” and plan for the worst scenario. From the above story, what the husband thought about his son assisting him to spend his money away was far from the truth; but, his ridiculous actions actually produced a good final outcome that could last for generations (i.e. the gold bars passed from one generation to he next).
2. It’s better to buy your wife some nice stuff while you are still alive and get some credit for your generosity instead of her spending away your money when you are dead and not being grateful to you.
3. If you want to be admitted into a private hospital, you better sign up for medical insurance. And not just any medical insurance, but one that guarantees you that the policy will be renewed yearly (without any conditions except in the event you fail to pay the premiums) and not expire until you are age 80 or even better, until you are 100 years old.
4. You guys better be good boys and stay away from China Dolls, because now your wife knows that she can just walk into UOB and OCBC and withdraw all your money in the joint accounts with her name by simply showing her IC without any hard copy of the FD certificates.
5. And you ladies who went and withdrew your husband’s money without his consent, please do not ever disclose who taught you how to go about doing so. But if you want to show your appreciation, you can quietly go deposit 11.88% of the total amount you withdrew and deposit into my PayPal account.
6. And you guys, now that you know your wife knows that she can go withdraw the money from OCBC and UOB (or other banks that practice Statement Based FD) anytime she feels like it or when you piss her off, you better go withdraw all the money from the joint accounts and place them under a single name – YOURS. Hahahaha.
7. If you do not want to fly Business Class and earn about 10% equivalent cash back from your credit cards transactions, you can redeem the reward points for stuff and shopping cash vouchers and get something like 1% (or less) in equivalent cash back.
8. If you want to redeem something that can last forever, then redeem for gold bars or coins that have no expiry date and more importantly it will still be coveted for centuries to come.
Last but not least, the most important message in the story is – the best method to preserve one’s wealth until death is to settle in full one’s housing loan ASAP so that he/she owns his/her own home AND never ever transfer the deeds/title of your home to your loved ones including your wife and/or son so that you’ll never get kicked out!
Click here to read my article titled Spending Children Future Inheritance.
Life – What’s It All About? Goal Is To Be Debt Free.
An article by GenX
GenX GenY GenZ 