Book: Marketing Management 15th global edition by Kotler and Keller

I would like to recommend a book about marketing which I just finished reading. It is the 15th global edition of Marketing Management written by marketing gurus Philip Kotler and Kevin Lane Keller.

In fact, this is the text book or official reference book in many marketing courses. However, being an academic book, it is not boring at all, and pretty interesting to read through. It is colourful, with many up-to-date pictures and illustrations, real life examples, and most importantly, very comprehensive and informative.

I'll show you 2 of its pages to visualize my description above:

 

The 15th edition is the latest, published in 2015. It has several variances, and even published by different publishers, but I think the content should be the same.

The topics are pretty recent, with discussions on digital communications management of online, social media, and even mobile technology. It talks about Marketing 3.0, and addresses the change in consumer behaviours from the marketing perspective. It explains about the evolution of traditional 4 P's of marketing (product, place, promotion, price) to newer 4 P's (people, processes, programs, performance) and the newer alternative of 4 A's (acceptability, affordability, accessibility, awareness).

This is a nice book for business owners, marketing managers, MBA students, business school students, and anyone who is interested to know more about the topic.

Top 3 cash back credit cards to suit your lifestyle

With hundreds of credit cards now available in the market, it can get really confusing especially when you consider the fact that not all of them are created equal. However, these days many Malaysians optimise their credit cards spending with cash back credit cards.

Essentially, a cash back credit card is a credit card that rewards the cardholder a rebate based on their spending. This can be then further broken down into the cash back tier, monthly cap and cash back categories.

Cash back tier means how much you have to spend to earn that amount of cash back. For example, if you spend RM300 you get 4% cash back and have to spend RM2,500 and above for 8% cash back.

Next up is the monthly cap which is the amount that the rebate is capped at every month (ranging from RM10 – RM100 or more), and the cash back category is the type of retail transaction or spending you need to perform to qualify for the cash back rebate.

However, if you are looking for a cash back credit card that suits your spending habits, we’ve shortlisted three of the best ones for you to choose below.

Hong Leong Wise Gold Card

Looking for a cash back credit card that offers you a variety of choices on the cash back categories? The Hong Leong Wise Gold lets you enjoy 10% cash back on spending for two of your chosen categories (there are ten available) when you make a minimum of any 10 retail transactions (minimum RM50 per transaction) in a month.

Do take note that to change categories at any time, you will have to pay maintenance fee of RM10.60.

Recommended for:

Malaysians who use their credit card for a variety of transactions and want more control on their cash back based on their spending habits.

Qualifying Criteria:

• Minimum age of 21 years old and a minimum income of RM2,000 per month (RM24,000 per annum)
• Annual fees: RM169.90 for Principal cardholders and RM84.80 for supplementary card holders

Shell-Citi Gold Credit Card

Always on the road or just want more money back from all your petrol expenditure? The Shell-Citi Gold credit card lets you enjoy a cash back rebate of up to 8% when you fill up on petrol at any Shell station nationwide.

Recommended for:

This cash back credit card is ideal for Malaysians who spend more on petrol every month and prefer to visit Shell petrol stations to earn cash back rebates.

Qualifying Criteria:

• Minimum age of 21 years old and a minimum income of RM2, 000 per month (RM24,000 per annum)
• No annual fees for the first year by using the card three times within 60 days of card approval.
• For subsequent years, RM206.70 per annum for principal; RM106.00 for supplementary cardholders.

OCBC 365 MasterCard

The OCBC 365 MasterCard is a great choice if you are a first time credit card owner looking to earn cash back on all of your spending.

You will receive 1% cash back on the first RM1,000 you spend and 0.5% for all subsequent spending –  making it a hassle-free and easy to manage cash back credit card.

Recommended for:

Malaysians who are looking for their first credit card and wish to enjoy cash back rebates for all of their spending.

Qualifying Criteria:

• Minimum age of 21 years and a minimum income of RM2,000 per month. (RM24,000 per annum)
• No annual fees for the first year, only for first time OCBC credit card customers or customers who last held an OCBC credit card more than 12 months ago.
• RM106.00 per year for principal and RM53.00 per annum for supplementary cardholders.

For more information on how to compare cash back credit cards, check out this handy guide here by CompareHero.my.

Note: This is a guest post by CompareHero.my, a Malaysia’s financial comparison portal which helps consumer in finding the right financial products at the right price.

Malaysian credit and debit cards are evoluting from signature based to PIN and Pay

You might be aware that credit and debit cards issued by banks and financial institutions in Malaysia are gradually changing from the traditional signature based to the new PIN and Pay system.

With the introduction of this new system, cardholders will receive a new card that support PIN and Pay latest by mid-2017, and after that, signature will no longer be accepted to authorize your card payment at the merchants Point-of-Sale (POS) terminal. Instead, you are required to key in a 6 digit PIN at the device to authorize the payment transaction.

The use of 6 digit PIN is similar to the way you use your ATM card to login to the bank's ATM machine.

(Photo by iStock)

This evolution is aimed to protect against fraud due to lost or stolen cards, as the card and the PIN are required to make a payment at the terminal.

All card issuers in Malaysia are required by Bank Negara Malaysia to upgrade payment cards to PIN and Pay type. Your card issuer will decline your old signature card 3 months after issuing you a new PIN card or after you are notified to collect your new PIN card from the branch.

Note that PIN and Pay is NOT applicable to Internet payment transaction and over the phone payment transaction. You should NOT disclose your PIN over the Internet or over the phone. Internet payment is still verified by CVV number as usual, and there is no change to it.

Click here for more information about the PIN and Pay system.