RM50k per family..
Tuesday, January 30th, 2007
What would you do if your home was under water? and when the water finally starts to subside, you are given another wake up call when it starts to rain again and water re-arises.. dont know if this word exists but if it does, it would be of good significance. Was sitting down with a group of bankers lately and was discussing the flood in Johor. A friend of my, who is a pretty high ranked officer in the bank, told us that the banks are estimating a RM 50,000.00 lost on household per family. So i started putting this figures in my head and calculated.. RM 1000 for a new fridge, RM 1000 for a new washing machine, RM 1000 for new TV and DVD player, RM 6000 for bedroom items, RM 1000 for hall furniture, RM 1000 for the kitchen, and that comes up to RM 11,000. Re-wiring for electricity? RM 3000 maybe.. New computer, RM 3000, New air condition(s), RM 3000 and that makes RM 20,000. Renovations, maybe another RM 10,000 and that sums up to RM 30,000. I guess they over estimated? or maybe each house has more than 1 computer? or more than 1 tv? or more IKEA furniture…
Having calculated all those, it actually means that if you are a middle income earner, say about RM 1500 a month and your spouse probably about another RM 1500 a month, you have a household income of RM 3000. After repaying bank loans of maybe RM 1200 a month, RM 500 for food, RM 300 for petrol, RM 500 for the kids, you are probably able to save RM 500 a month. This means RM 6000 per year. By rough calculation, it now takes you 5 years to repay a loan you would need to take to go back to a normal lifestyle, with no extra savings after this 5 years. That’s not calculating taxes and car maintenance. OH GOSH! i forgot your insurance does not cover natural disaster, which means another RM 50,000 for a new car… It would be 10 years before you can get back on your own 2 feet…
Can you believe that? put myself in that shoe, i’d go MAD! as most KL ppl would if flood starts here.. after all the years we worked hard for a better living, you go back to square one? come to think of it, i hope the rumuors on the RM 0.50 increase in prices of petrol after chinese new year is NOT TRUE! or i’d have to buy a bicycle… Anyway, as a Kiwanian, www.kiwanisputrajaya.org we are doing some collection to buy some stationery for the kids going back to school. Least we can do as a small organization. Should you have some money to spare this holiday season, contact me directly. Your small dollars can make a big difference. cheers!





