ECONOMIC CRISIS

I just arrived back home from a short grocery shopping from a nearby GIANT hypermarket. I parked my car in the porch and when i was just about to pull out the groceries from the back of my car, i heard someone calling me. He was none other than my neighbour Mr. Ang. Apparently, he too just arrived home from an outing.He is an architect by occupation.

The night has just begun to fall and i was ready to throw myself up infront of the television set for a good rest. My neighbour asked me about our country's economic condition and before i can open my mouth to answer, he continued to speak. He sounded  more like the dooms day preacher to me. He spared me no room to converse and i felt like a stooge standing there listening to his 'dooms' day talk!.

That night i witnessed the real him! He displayed the true character that fits an average typical conservative person who takes pride by doing nothing but laments!! Yes, the global economy is taking a beating now and is somewhat heading downward, for the moment. Yes, Malaysia's economy is also tandemly miraging the world economy and heading helter skelter to down south. Despite all this phenomena, history had taught us that economic 'tsunamis' are only here to stay for a short tenure and, like the popular phrase "what goes up will come down", the same token also can be applied to "what came down will eventually go up"! 

Malaysia had gone through many facets of economic crisis since last few decades and we had experienced the situation where the Bursa's Main Board Share Composite Index hit as low as 600 points about two decades ago.

In every crisis, Malaysia's economy was hardly hit and i am sure that you have heard investors or non-investors alike talked about Malaysia was on the verge of becoming a bankruptcy nation. History also had taught us that bankruptcy was never the situation here and, in every downfall Malaysia's economy rebounded and became stronger. So, how the current turmoil can be vastly different? Even if Malaysia's economy falls freely, it will only be for a duration of time before it recuperate and picks up steam heading up north.

If you are an investor, this are the salient points ought to be followed during any crisis:

1. Don't panic!
2. Rebalance your investment portfolio model to suit the economic situation.
3. Allocate your fund in fixed income or bond market.
4. Reduce your exposure in Equity/ Balanced funds.
5. Stay and look out for the changging trend in the market. 

As for people like my neighbour who stays conservative i can only suggest to them to transfer and park their fund in :

• Insurance products that delivers fixed cash dividends
• Insurance annuity products
• Bond/sukuk mutual fund products
• Fixed deposits in any commercial banks which is a participative member in the PIDM .