By Sherry Koh | Jul 16, 2010
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Author, financial coach and co-organiser
of Retirement Transformation
Conference 2010, Carol Yip |
Author, financial coach, certified financial planner and CEO and founder of AbacusForMoney.com Carol Yip, 45, is a lady with a mission; the mission of helping her clients make, manage and invest money more wisely. Together with KMDC (KDU Management Development Centre), Yip’s AbacusForMoney.com is organising the Retirement Transformation Conference 2010 which will highlight key problems, attain various perspectives on the subject and ultimately, move towards meeting the needs of our ageing society.
StarProperty.my met up with the driven lady to talk about her love for numbers and discovered the many aspects that are attached to building retirement homes and/or villages.
Tell us about your professional background.
I am more into personal financial education. I educate and coach, and there are times when I need to do some financial counselling. I would not say that financial planning is not important but what I am doing is laying down the foundation and fundamentals about money management. There’s a difference between money management and financial planning.
What’s the difference?
Money management is about managing money on a daily basis. It’s about simple things like spending money and going to work to earn money. When you spend, the question is, how are you going to save? Saving money is a skill. So professionals or experts advocate ‘saving first before spending’. How many of us have the skill of saving before spending? Investment is the same. The fundamentals of investment; what types of investments do you know? In school, no one teaches this. We go to school and we learn maths, science, history, geography, but nothing in the area of money management. That’s what I do as my profession.
How did you get into it? Did you study finance?
I have an accounting degree, and I have my masters majoring in finance. Financial planning came into play in the last 10 years. I found that there is a missing link. All of us, unless our parents teach us the value of money and its value in life, show us how to spend wisely and how to invest and grow money, I think schools should be the next important place (to teach about financial management).
You have written two books, Money Rules and Smart Money-User. Any plans for a third book?
The third book is in the making (laughs).
When will it be launched?
I would say, sometime towards the end of the year or early next year.
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| Yip's second book |
What will the book be about?
The book is a continuation of my first and second book. The first book, Smart Money-User, was written for young adults and teenagers. I felt that it’s time for young people to learn about this. So that when they grow up and start their career, they won’t make mistakes like adults, like me! I went through that path where you make your own money, you get your credit card and you spend. Then you find that you need to save to buy a house and car. You get a car loan and you must know how to manage all your loans and credit cards.
Then I found that as adults go into adulthood, there are many things in life that they may not be aware of, other than getting married and having kids. Hence, I decided to write, Money Rules. That book doesn’t focus on financial hard facts. I find that there are enough financial books that focus on hard facts such as how to calculate the amount you must save every month. The soft side of it is missing; the psychology, the behaviour, the mindset and the emotional parts. Think about it. From the day you were born to where you are now, where do you learn the value of money and how do you equate the value of money other than the things that we have and services that we pay for. Money represents a lot of things. It can represent love, power and greed, and there’s also a big difference between a person with a purpose in life compared to a person who leads a lifestyle.
A person who live based on a lifestyle, money becomes a need. A person with a life-purpose, for example, those with simple goals such as wanting to become a good parent or a good person, there is a totally different perspective as money is only one of the important parts of life. So that’s what the second book is about.
Then, all of us will grow old and retire. To some, they will retire and enjoy life. Some others might retire but still do what they like. Some people just don’t know how to retire. If you look at society, a lot of us will either remain single or get married and have kids much later. Even though our retirement age is 55, some people will still try to earn an income. So when you talk about retirement planning, some of us are still struggling. How do you define retirement? That’s what the (third) book will focus on.
The topic for the third book is in line with your next conference?
Yes. The conference is about transformation. In Malaysia, we are moving towards an ageing society. There are major issues that we would like to address. The first thing is the retirement age. 55 years old is still too young. It is challenging for people in their 40s to look for career change. The employer may not look at them as a valuable asset and that’s the point where they might need more money.
Next, we talk about retirement living. A lot of old people like to retire in their own house. Our housing or facilities around the community living don’t really cater for aged people.
Are there any proper retirement homes in Malaysia?
No, not like those available overseas. Retirement villages in Australia are done up properly. But some asked, “Carol, based on our culture, we don’t like to go to retirement village”. I recognise that we are still very family-based. Parents like to stay near their children or grandchildren. But when you look at it, retirement living is like any community living such as a gated community.
For example, if a community living has a playground, then we should have a place where old people can go and mix around. Sometimes old people need services that can help them to keep them so-called “effective”, rather than just sit at home.
We also talk about nursing and ageing care. A lot of us, when our parents are aged, we still need to go and work. We end up having a maid which might not be the right person to take care of our aged parents. That’s what I mean by retirement and ageing-in-place. In Singapore, their Government promote three-generation living where parents, aged parents can stay with their children and grandchildren.
Wouldn’t it be more expensive?
Look at it in the long run. Is it more expensive to buy a home with all the facilities compared to having to move out and stay in another place to get that kind of services? It is a long-term thing. There are a lot of people who invest in big houses, but once they age, they find that the house is too big. They have to move to a smaller place so that maintenance of the house would be much easier. It is the same concept.
What are the few simple things that people can do immediately to improve their financial situations? For example, how can one save more?
Let’s put it this way. For example, if you are not feeling well, you need to see a doctor. When the doctor diagnoses, they will test your blood, do all the medical check-up and come up with medical report. If you have high cholesterol and a bit of high blood pressure, what do you do next? It depends on the prescription. It might not be that serious, but you need to change your lifestyle.
It is the same thing with finance. If you don’t know your financial health, it is very difficult to know what to do immediately. My philosophy is to always check your finances. Where do you start? At the very basic. Your cashflow, net worth, net values, net assets and liabilities. Find out why your savings is low. Do you have lots of loans? Are you spending a lot on grocery or your lifestyle such as holidays or shopping? Do you have an addiction that creates money leakages? Once you know your financial health, then figure out what you can do immediately. Sometimes, it takes a while to change one habit. If you are not making enough money, how are you going to make more? You can’t do it immediately. Looking for ways to make money takes time. So that’s why I believe that there are no quick fixes to a financial problem.
There’s also some psychology to it. Sometimes people don’t like to confront it. They know that they are in financial problem but they just don’t want to face it. They run away from it and when they run away from it, they do things that that causes more financial damages.
For the Retirement Transformation Conference 2010, what are the key issues that will be addressed?
I think that it is an industry in itself. To me, retirement home is another product. But to build this product, we need experts from the various fields. For the property developers, they would want to know the return-on-investment. They say that retirement villages might not be profitable now because there is no demand. But for all you know, there are people who would like to have that.
Of course, it has to be a regulated. Because it involves old people, there has to be some level of security and of course this will tie in to the financial bit. How do people buy these types of homes? Do they have enough to live in such places? So there are a lot of strategic issues that we need to work through so that the people who live in these places will have enough to continue living in such villages.
There are many categories of retirees. Some are still active and can take care of themselves. Some need simple nursing care. So how do we categorise these types of home living?
Who should attend the Retirement Transformation Conference?
Business owners, developers, architects, civil engineers, medical practitioners and then of course, companies from the protection industry such as insurance and unit trust. They can create financial products and services, maybe like an annuity type of product where people can invest and continue to get money to support this kind of living. Of course, Government agencies should attend too. We want them to come and support because most of us are already aware of the issues. Question is, what are the actions we need to take?
Tell us about your personal financial coaching. Is it one-to-one?
Yes and each session do not go for more than two hours because it is not effective after that. It depends on what kind of financial topic you want to talk about. It can be one to a few sessions.
You charge by sessions, which is...?
I charge RM100 per session, for two hours.
Regardless of age?
I don’t look at age, I look at the complexity of the matter (laughs).
You teach kids as well, hence I wondered if there’s a minimum age requirement.
Personal coaching is normally for adults. Coaching for kids or teenagers will be more on career. A lot of times, teenagers have an issue of selecting the right type of degree. When they talk to their parents, the children might end up doing a degree that the parents want, and not what the kid wants.
How does one participate in the Retirement Transformation Conference? Who do they contact?
The tickets are sold in Borders bookstore and it is only RM500 per day. For groups, it is RM425. (Note: StarProperty.my readers are entitled to a special rate. Refer below.)
It is on August 3rd, with lunch and two tea-breaks and four international speakers. One speaker is from Japan, a country with an ageing society. Tadaaki Masuda will share how his country overcame the challenges. He is the director of the council for the Third Age. Japan and Singapore also have a council to look after the Third Age. Third Age refers to aged people.
Australia has a Ministry of Ageing and Roland Naufal from Australia will share his views on retirement living. Then, I also have Dr Sheilu from India, who is the founder of Dignity Foundation, an NGO that helps older people look for jobs. Kim Walker from Singapore will talk about perception building and will share ways to inject positivity into this whole industry. And there’s also a panel discussion. We know the problems, so tell us what we need to do.
What drives or inspires you to do what you do?
People. We cannot live in isolation and everyone has a story to share. If I can relate to them, then I find purpose in my work. Money is important but it is a double-edged sword.
What’s your next goal?
My next goal is to transform Malaysia into an age-neutral society. We don’t look at people by age. We look at people as people. All of us go through the same ageing process. If we advocate enough, we will be able to change a little bit.
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About Retirement Transformation Conference 2010
Retirement Transformation Conference – the first of its kind in Malaysia – will be held on August 3, 2010 at the Sime Darby Convention Center from 8.30am to 6pm.
The conference aims to share, identify, raise awareness and deepen understanding of retirement issues as well as create a platform for key stakeholders to learn from international best practices. This could facilitate the review and development of a national retirement blueprint in line with the Government Transformation Programme and leading to redefining retirement for Malaysia.
Special rate for StarProperty.my readers
RM425, with gifts worth RM600. The gifts are 4 complimentary half-day seminars encompassing:
• Retirement Planning Workshop
• Estate Planning Workshop
• Basic Personal Financial Planning Workshop
• Investment Planning Workshop
For more information, visit www.kmdc.com.my, e-mail start@kmdc.com.my or call Patrick at 03-7712 3212.
» Click here to sign up
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