Transforming my Streamyx & TM Homeline to Blockbuster Deals package

TM has recently launched their Blockbuster Deals package promotion, which seems to be attractive for us to get more at less cost.

This might be their respond to the market, after facing fierce competition from the mobile 3.5G and Wimax telcos. Like Chinese says: "you'll get improvement when you have competition" (有竞争才有进步), glad to see that over the years, TM and Streamyx has improved from their previous lousy service, in terms of broadband quality and speed, as well as better pricing for voice and Internet.

Let's see what we can get from this Blockbuster Deals package promotion:

• Zero charge on phoneline rental
• Free unlimited calls to TM fixed line nationwide
• Flat rate of 10 sen/min to all mobile and other fixed line nationwide
• Free DECT phone
• Free WiFi modem

And here is how the pricing structure like.

Although there is a contract period of 1 year, it is still an attractive deal, isn't it?

For those that don't need Streamyx broadband service, there is also a voice-only deal with 6 months contract period. I wonder who will be interested in this, but this plan is much better than the previous Let's Talk plan.

Click here for more information about the TM Blockbuster Deals.

Done my comprehensive health screening @ Golden Horses Health Sanctuary

Today I've done my comprehensive health screening together with my wife at Golden Horses Health Sanctuary(GHHS) inside the Palace of the Golden Horses.

Seems like both of us need to reduce some of our body fat to make it fall back to the "normal range" from the current slightly high side.

Few years back, we joint the membership of this health screening programme at the price of RM5,000 and entitiled to use some of the Country Heights' facilities (such as swimming pool, gym, etc.) and 20 years of annual health screening service at the cost of RM3xx per year.

This is a really comprehensive health examination. The result of the following 99 items are included in my report:

• General inspection (10 items)
• Ophthalmic inspection (8 items)
• Physical examination (11 items)
• Electrocardiogram (ECG) (1 item)
• Hearing inspection (2 items)
• Pulmonary function inspection (3 items)
• Hematology profile (15 items)
• Blood group (2 items)
• Diabetic screening (1 item)
• Lipids profile (6 items)
• Liver function (9 items)
• Renal function profile (5 items)
• Calcium, phosphorus and iron (3 items)
• Gout screening (1 item)
• Hepatitis B screening and other serology test (3 items)
• Arthritis screening (1 item)
• Thyroid profile (2 items)
• Cancer screening (2 items)
• Urinalysis (12 items)
• Chest X-Ray (1 item)
• Ultrasound abdomen and pelvis (1 item)

My wife's report contains even more items, including ultrasound on breast and pap smear test.

We are given free voucher (transferable) to conduct bone test, recommended for people above 45 years old. As we are still at our young age, we plan to transfer the entitlement for the bone test to our parents.

It is a good practice to conduct comprehensive health screening to our body, so that if there is any health distortion, can be detected and rectified at early stage. We can also enjoy an income tax relief of up to RM500 per year for complete medical examination like this.


So, have you done yours?
 

EPF declared 5.65% dividend for 2009

Few hours ago, the Employees Provident Fund (EPF, a.k.a. KWSP) has just declared the dividend  rate for financial year 2009 to be of 5.65%, which is considered higher than the expectation of most financial analysts and general public.

This is not too bad, compared to the low rate of 4.5% in FY 2008.

With this dividend rate, it seems that those who have withdrawn their EPF Account II savings to reduce their housing loan during 2009 might be regreted to do so, as the effective mortgage rate is generally lower than 5.65% in 2009, due to a lower BLR rate along the year.

Anyhow, this rate is still lower than my personal investment return rate in 2009, therefore I need not regrete to opt for 8% EPF contribution instead of 11% for year 2009-2010. You might have a clue of which shares I invested in by reading my Investment related articles here, particularly those written in 2009.

Also, this rate is lower than the return I got from the unit trusts I bought with MAAKL Mutual by using part of my EPF Account I savings. Begining from the month of June, I had made 3 such EPF withdrawals during 2009 to invest in unit trust funds in MAAKL Mutual.

Although the commission rate of buying unit trusts with EPF Account I withdrawal is set at 3%, I still find it pretty expensive, compared to the fees of buying share directly in KLSE through the stockbroker. Luckily it still provides a better return than the 5.65% of EPF, so seems like I have made a good try.

How about you? Are you happy with the 5.65% rate you got from EPF in 2009? Or not satisfied and demand for more?

Click here to read the official announcement from EPF, and the investment structure of EPF in 2009, etc.