Sunday, December 24, 2017

Blackmores Multivitamins plus Minerals tablets as gift and also for self consume

During this multiple-festive season of year-end, Christmas and new year, if you are wondering about what to give as gift to relatives and friends, perhaps you can consider health supplement such as Blackmores Multivitamins plus Minerals tablets.

Blackmores is named after its Australian founder Maurice Blackmore (1906-1977). The company (ASX:BKL) is public listed in Australia Stock Exchange since 1985. They are passionate about natural health and inspiring people to take control of and invest in well-being.

Blackmores Multivitamins plus Minerals tablet contains essential vitamins and minerals to provide your body and mind with all-round nutritional support and help maintain health every day. It helps supplement an unbalanced diet in one-a-day dose. Its active ingredient includes:

  • Vitamin A
  • Vitamin B1
  • Vitamin B2
  • Vitamin B3
  • Vitamin B5
  • Vitamin B6
  • Vitamin B12
  • Vitamin C
  • Vitamin D3
  • Vitamin E
  • Calcium
  • Choline bitartrate
  • Iron
  • Folic acid
  • Inositol
  • Manganese
  • Magnesium
  • Potassium
  • Zinc
  • Biotin

Daily supplementation with a broad range of vitamins and minerals can provide "nutritional insurance" by helping to provide an optimum intake for the maintenance of good health. A Harvard review published in the Journal of the American Medical Association in 2002 recommended that all adults should take a multivitamin daily. Statistics suggest that many people are not consuming optimal amounts of vitamins in their diets. Low levels of vitamins can contribute to the development of a range of conditions.

The most cost effective Blackmores Multivitamins plus Minerals is the gift pack as below, which consists of 1 bottle of 120 tablets, 1 bottle of 60 tablets, and 1 bottle of 30 tablets. Altogether there are 210 tablets in one pack. The price I bought is RM78.90, which is 37.57 sen per tablet.


The shelf life of this product is 3 years. Its manufacturing date and expiry date is printed on its label.

This product is formulated for adults to take one tablet per day. For children under 12 years old, there is another product called Blackmores Kids Multivitamins plus Minerals.

Blackmores Kids Multivitamins plus Minerals has the following active ingredient:
  • Vitamin A
  • Vitamin B1
  • Vitamin B5
  • Vitamin B6
  • Vitamin B12
  • Vitamin C
  • Vitamin D3
  • Vitamin E
  • Equiv. Thiamine
  • Nicotinamide
  • Folic Acid
  • Biotin
  • Calcium
  • Iodine
  • Magnesium
  • Manganese
  • Zinc
Blackmores Kids Multivitamins plus Minerals tablets are chewable with strawberry vanilla flavour with no artificial sweeteners, and not to be swallowed as whole.

This product is formulated for children of age 2-6 years to take 1 tablet per day, and for children of age 7-12 years to take 2 tablets per day.

The most cost effective Blackmores Kids Multivitamins plus Minerals is the twin pack as below, which consists of 2 bottles of 60 tablets each. Altogether there are 120 tablets in one pack. The price I bought is RM51.95, which is 43.29 sen per tablet.



The genuine products will have a Ministry of Health (Kementerian Kesihatan Malaysia, KKM) hologram sticker with a unique serial number for each bottle.


For the Muslim, this product is certified Halal by the Al-Iman Islamic Society Inc. of Australia as shown in the logo on its label.

Friday, December 22, 2017

SSPN-i tax relief of RM6000 max has been extended until year 2020

You might be awared that the National Education Savings Scheme (Skim Simpanan Pendidikan Nasional, SSPN-i) setup by the National Higher Education Fund Corporation (Perbadanan Tabung Pendidikan Tinggi Nasional, PTPTN) for the purpose of higher education is able to provide you personal income tax saving, which is one of the good personal finance means for resident individuals to reduce their payable income tax.


The maximum amount of personal income tax relief for new saving deposits placed in SSPN-i for the benefit of your children during each year of assessment is RM3,000. This mean if your children's SSPN-i account is deposited with RM3,000 additional savings (new deposit - withdrawal = RM3,000) in the year, you can deduct your taxable income for the year by the same amount of RM3,000.

If the additional savings during the year is less than RM3,000, you can deduct your taxable income for the year by the same amount, which is less than RM3,000.

If the additional savings during the year is more than RM3,000, you can deduct your taxable income for the year by RM3,000 only, as RM3,000 is the maximum.

However, National Budget 2013 had announced that this maximum amount of SSPN-i tax relief be doubled to RM6,000 for a period of 6 years from assessment year 2012 until 2017. The maximum amount will fall back to RM3,000 after 2017.

Now, the good news is, National Budget 2018 announced on 27 October 2017 has further extended  this SSPN-i maximum RM6,000 tax relief period for another 3 years, which will continue from assessment year 2018 until 2020.

This means that the maximum tax relief from SSPN-i new deposits will remain as RM6,000 until assessment year 2020.

Auspicious dates in 2018 for housewarming, open house, party, gathering, etc.

Here is the list of auspicious dates in 2018 for organizing and hosting meet-up with friends and/or relatives (会友), which is produced based on the Chinese almanac Tong Shu.

The dates are applicable for housewarming, open house, home party, gathering, potluck, and any other similar functions to meet up with friends and/or relatives. (Click the image to enlarge)


Bear in mind that although the Tong Shu is a compilation of Chinese astrology and calendaring studies gathering wisdom of thousands of years, we should use it wisely and rationally, but not be too superstitious on it.

Hint: Click on the "Older Posts" link to continue reading, or click here for a listing of all my past 3 months articles.