r/MalaysianPF

RM 3,200 across five months from making social media posts for two small businesses near me. Not retire early money, but it covers my car installment so I figured I'd share the honest breakdown since I keep seeing people ask about side income ideas beyond the usual grab and tutoring.

The catch is that every person you see in the content was produced by AI, not a single one is a real human. Both clients knew the deal before I delivered my first post and neither cared. What they care about is whether the posts look decent and bring in customers, not whether the person in the photo actually exists.

Client one is a tuition centre, been working with them since March. RM 400 a month for around 10 to 12 Instagram and Facebook posts covering enrollment promos, holiday programs, open day stuff. Five months so far, that's RM 2,000.

Client two is a hair salon I got connected to through a friend starting May. Same deal, RM 400 a month for hairstyle showcases and promo posts. Three months, RM 1,200.

My setup is pretty basic. Canva for layouts and text overlays, WhatsApp for back and forth with clients on revisions, and APOB AI on the character side, where you dial in a face once and every render after that delivers the same person without any drift. You get a batch of free generations each day and that was all I needed to vet the quality before spending a single ringgit. That consistency was the actual selling point because the tuition centre tried stock photos before and their feed looked messy when every post had a completely different person.

Now the honest part. The face consistency is good but it's not perfect. Across a batch of maybe 15 images, two or three will come out slightly off. The jawline shifts or the eyes look different or something just feels wrong. So I end up regenerating those, sometimes three or four attempts per image before it matches the rest. On a bad week that eats an extra hour or two I am basically not getting paid for.

I also tried making short video clips for the salon early on and completely gave up. AI video right now has this problem where faces float and warp between frames, and I was spending more time trying to get five usable seconds than I would spend making ten still images. Told the salon owner straight that video is not there yet and she appreciated the honesty.

Time wise I logged about 55 hours total across the five months. That works out to roughly RM 58 per hour which sounds decent, but there were Saturdays I spent two to three hours fighting with outputs and got nothing usable. So the per hour number flatters the reality.

Finding the first client was the hardest part. I printed sample posts and walked into the tuition centre to show the owner. Her previous setup was asking admin staff to snap photos on their phone and the quality was not great. She agreed on the spot. The salon was easier since my friend made the intro.

On the LHDN side since this is MalaysianPF after all, RM 3,200 is assessable side income. I'm keeping all my WhatsApp records and bank transfer screenshots. Not enough to shift my bracket but I'm declaring it anyway, just want clean records.

It's not a lot of money and I'm not quitting my day job over this. The tools have real limitations and it is more work than most people would guess. But for a side gig where the capital outlay was basically zero, five months of covering my car payment is a result I'll take.

Hi, I'm new to the investment side of growing money. Can experienced people here guide me on investing like FSMone, Moomoo, Stashaway, RytInvest, Touch n Go invest, Public Mutual and other stuff. I'm planning on medium to long term investment of around rm800 every month. Currently I have liquid money on Ryt bank 4%. What are the things I should look out for and learn?

Hey there, I'm a non-Malaysian thinking to shift there. My priority is to find a cheap place in all metrics regardless of it's location or commodities.

I'd be happy if you people suggest me some places like that.

I know the return is low but its super safe. The latest dividend was 4.1%

I started investing with moomoo yesterday. Bought a US stock with balance of $4.82, then the stock rose $1 and I sold it just for first time try. And now my balance is actually lower than $4.82 at $3.32?. Wtf?? Isn’t my profit supposed to be like $1?

Hi, I have read a few posts saying that you should apply your first credit card with the bank which your salary is deposited into. I have 2 banks. (1) With savings have less than 1k, but my salary is being deposit into this bank. (2) My housing mortgage with 80k cash in flexi account(because it can knockoff the interest).

I currently just started work and with 3 months salary slip. In this case, which would be the recommended bank to apply the credit card to increase this chance of getting one? Thanks!

I am living here in Malaysia as a digital nomad (under De Rantau Visa). I work 100% remotely with a UK company, with $110K/year. I and do not have local malaysian bank. I receive my monthly salary through Wise, and I do not make internal transfers. Should I worry about paying taxes? I did my research and I got many different answers. My country and Malaysia do not have a common tax declaration agreement.

Most of website/reddit answers say that foreign income is tax-excempt. So, I should not pay taxes on my foreign salary income

But, the FAQ of MDEC De Rantau says that:

> foreign income will be eligible for taxation as per:

>1. Section 4(a) Income Tax Act 1967 (ITA 1967)

>2. Subject to the provisions of Section 7 of ITA 1967

Can anyone give me insights about this? Whether digital nomads living in malaysia need to pay taxes?

I recently changed job, got a significant pay raise and promotion, but also I lost medical coverage.

I'm quite old, married, we have a few kids. We have always been relying on medical coverage by my employer, and never had medical insurance. Yeah, I know. Hey, better late than never.

Anyway I was hoping I don't have to deal with agents, but not many show the monthly premium. Kaotim does, so now this is my benchmark (given the same annual and lifetime limit).

I like the Vitality thing. I know AIA is not some noble altruistic company, they want to reduce risks. But I don't mind being tricked into being healthy so that my insurer's risk is lower. But is it significantly more expensive than say Kaotim? Also, their medical insurance is rather complicated, I need to pair it with other products is it?

(Added point: My kid is disabled. I heard insurance in Malaysia is allowed to discriminate, basically refuse coverage to disabled people, is this true? Should I not disclose? Or if I choose to disclose, which insurance does not discriminate?)

Anyone worry about retirement?

Age 45 male

Living in KL

Wife and no kid

How much do i need to retire?

1. basic minimum amount

2. average amount

3. upper class, 3 to 6 local holidays a year

4. top class

ChatGPT suggested I put 6 months' expenses worth of money as an emergency fund.

Where would it be safe for me to put my money that I can withdraw or transfer immediately to my own savings account?

I heard anecdotes of scammers making illegal deductions from digital banks...

Do you think is worth it, as I would be in charge of small supermarket ?

I have an excess of RM50k that I’ve withdrawn from KDI Save, as it is no longer offering a 4% return. Are there any other alternatives for where I could park these funds?

Used these platforms back in 2020/2021 when I was under the impression they were better than UT and ASN was inaccessible. Eventually, found that they didn't suit my investment goals.

Have they gained market share, lowered fees, or come up with novel strategies?

I'm 27, and a few years ago I started thinking about allocating part of my savings into things like ASB/SSPN that could generate around 4–5% annually.

My idea was to build up a sizeable amount there and use the returns to fund my hobbies, while continuing to contribute a small amount every month. Right now, I have around RM65k invested, which generates roughly RM2,500 a year.

Recently, I discovered ETFs and started wondering whether I made a mistake by putting so much of my savings into lower-return investments instead of investing in ETFs earlier.

So my question is: at 27, have I missed out on a significant opportunity by not investing in ETFs earlier?

Hi all, just sharing what happened to me recently.

1. Moved ~600k through Wise in July & Aug, of which I essentially was using the 20k limit everyday.
2. Funded majority to IBKR, and some to a USD account I hold in Vietnam. Some travel spend.
3. Got banned, appeal rejected. No details as apparently they're not allowed to share

No matter - now I need another method of moving money around the world + spending on travels.

FYI this could happen to you too.

Options (for ref all quotes are for RM100k, and USDMYR spot is 4.085 now):

1. Bank TT (large transfers): I checked Maybank >RM50k USDMYR TT is at RM4.10 (~40bps spread) + RM30 cable + USD 10-25 for intermediary banks.

Probably easiest and best route for 6 fig transfers.

2. Sunway Money: RM4.109 (60bps spread), havent been approved yet so can't see if any other fees

3. Maybank Global Access: Bait and switch FX. First screen show 4.101, final screen shows 4.119 (80bps) wtf lol. but tbh I'm pleasantly surprised as its still okay for travel spend in small amts for the convenience (same fx for RM1k).

I wish we had Revolut here or a direct competitor to Wise...
What do you guys use now?

Edit: quite funny people think sus for wtv reason. i wouldnt be making a post if i knew that i was discovered for doing smt sus. lmfao...

and appreciate it if people could answer re: alternatives. Thx to the 2 guys that mentioned SG accounts and Instarem

Hi guyss, im still a beginner to investing and im interested in putting some money into the S&P500 for the long term but a bit confused about which platform/broker I should use.
ive come across Interactive Brokers (IBKR), Moomoo, Webull and a few others, but I’m not sure which one is the reliable and most suitable for a beginner. Is the official IBKR website legit for Malaysians? also what about Moomoo, Webull, and other investment app?

would very appreciate advice from those have experience investing in the S&P500, inc which broker you use, thanks

Fresh grad here. Got offered a full time position (finance) at Petronas. Starting is RM5k. I am mainly interested in knowing the salary structure, work culture, and job security.

Salary structure
Did some research and all I know is there’s 4 salary grades before you reach managerial level (RM15k floor). And each salary grade takes about 3 years. But how significant is the raise between each executive grade?

G1: RM5k
G2-G4: ???
G5: RM15k

And what’s the EPF employer contribution %?

Work culture
Should I expect a kiasu MNC work culture? Or is it more chill due to it being a GLC? Especially since it’s malay centered, which has a reputation/stereotype for being more laidback.

Job security
I know there was a massive downsizing last year mainly due to the issue with Petros over operating rights in Sarawak. But aside from that, how volatile is the industry? E.g. How often is MSS, VSS given?