Car Scam Loan ? Yes, cars are the biggest scam in Malaysia.
Why do I say cars are scams?
– The cost of paying for the car is not just a monthly installment. Installment may be only RM400, but after adding tolls, parking, fuel, insurance etc, RM1000 is usually the minimum cost of owning a car every month. Many do not know and are ready, and usually when they wake up they are trapped for 9 years.
– A new car loan is very easy to approve compared to a 2nd hand car loan even though all banks know that the price of the car will drop by a minimum of 10% tomorrow after it is driven. If you buy a 2nd hand car today and sell it tomorrow, it is not difficult to sell without loss. But if you buy a new car today and sell it tomorrow, the minimum loss is 10%.
– Car loans are easier to approve than home loans. Even though the bank knows that the car will not have any value in the last 20 years and they also know that usually the house price will double in the last 20 years. But a car loan is easier to get than a home loan.
– A car loan that the bank is willing to approve can be 30% -40% of our monthly salary. But our car installment should not exceed 10% of our monthly income.
– The majority of us, go to work to pay for the car. There are a small, slightly smarter handful, who use assets to pay for their cars. Basically their car is so free because other people please pay. But not many people know and understand this kind of knowledge.
So I really agree that car ownership is actually a scam. But because many people do, it still doesn’t feel like a scam, right?
Electric Vehicles
In theory I’m all for it, but in practice I’m happy to hold out for now and read all the small print. The thing I’m not comfortable with at this time is the reality that the battery has a warranty of 8yrs, after which time the cost of replacing it ($4k for a reconditioned battery and $10k for a new one) is on us.
Reconditioned ones can only be made when EV’s are written off in accidents. I guess in time there’ll be a stockpile of these, but the law of supply and demand says that the $4k cost for a reconditioned battery (the example pulled from the exiting cost in Japan) is subject to volatility. $10k Just to replace a battery isn’t something that I see as reasonable. The argument put forth is that “you spend this much over 8 years servicing your existing non electric vehicle and paying for petrol” but for me that’s just not true. That argument also conveniently omits the fact that EVs also have a servicing cost to keep all other engine components in good working order – so it’s a very poor argument that just doesn’t hold up. And what of the batteries that serve their time and simply become unusable? They can’t be reconditioned so they end up in landfill?
“Doesn’t bother me because I get a new car every 3-5 years”. Uh huh… and that means you hand the cost onto someone else which doesn’t make it ok. It’s just another example of how our attitudes damage the planet at the rate we are.
Hopefully over the next few years technology can evolve to a place where it’s possible to build long lasting EV batteries that make it more palatable. Until then I’m still a fan of the move to EVs but won’t be making a move any time soon.
What do you think about the move to EVs?
2 More Tallest Buildings In Malaysia To Be Built As Early As 2030
Apparently, PNB Merdeka 118 which will be completed this year is not Malaysia’s last step in pursuing a name as a modern skyscraper city.
Expected in 2030 or above, 2 more tallest buildings in Malaysia will be built, each with a height of more than 700+ Meters and has more than 100+ floors.
One of them is Tower M in Lot M KLCC (Near Persiaran KLCC MRT Station which is under construction). The idea for this building has existed since the beginning of the overall planning of the Kuala Lumpur City Center (KLCC) development area.
Another is Tradewinds Square, to be developed by Tradewinds Corp owned by conglomerate figure Tan Sri Syed Mokhtar Al Bukhary. The site of this building is on Jalan Sultan Ismail near Raja Chulan Monorail Station. (Formerly the site of the Crowne Plaza)
In the meantime, a building as high as 400 Meters ++ is proposed in KL Metropolis. This height is approximately the Petronas Twin Towers and also The Exchange 106 at TRX.
The bitter truth about textile “recycling”
On 11.12.2021, we held our very first clothes swap. As expected, many participants came with lots of clothes.
This is indeed a common phenomenon in 2021 – we have way more than what we need, and we don’t need most of the things that we bought impulsively.
After the event, we passed half of the “leftover” (clothes) to 慢慢 · 开始 , who had kindly agreed to provide an update of the journey of those leftover clothes. We have since received an update, and are sharing it with everybody now.
The 4 baskets shown in the photo –
1) Blue basket is filled with everyday wear in good, wearable condition – they will go to the flood victims.
2)Yellow basket is filled with clothes in good condition, which can still be worn, but not suitable to be resold. They will be re-categorised by 慢慢, and passed to recycler, charitable organisation, or resold.
3)Green basket is filled with cotton wear in bad condition, which are not suitable to be worn, but can be recycled and repurposed. They will go to recycler.
4)Pink basket is filled with non everyday wear made by NON-recyclable materials (Polyester/Synthetic fiber, Chiffon, Mesh fabric) in non-resaleable condition – nothing can be done about them; & that’s the end of their lives .
[More and more people are collecting football/running shirts, and lots of events organisers are giving sportswear, without thinking about the environmental impact of those shirts.
Most people condemn fast fashion, but sportswear is also no angel. It’s time that both event organisers & participants wake up, and say No to shirts that will only be worn once. Alternatively, please wear them until their time is up, and then upcycle them.]
It is shocking to see that out of so many items, only very few of them can really be given a second life.
Not everything is suitable to be given to charitable organisation (for example, fancy dresses etc are not suitable). And let us not forget the amount of time spent in sorting the clothes out (we have done it once, 慢慢 · 开始 has done it for the second time, and then whoever taking over the items would have to sort it out again, etc).
As such, we urge everybody to think twice, before you buy anything. Yes, the money is yours, but the earth is ours.
When your votes cannot change the conventional paradigm of the government or the commercial world, your banknote should speak louder to reject businesses/products/practices that are bad for the environment, and support sustainable businesses/products/practices.
“Buy less, choose well, make it last”.
