Grow Your Money 3 : Secure Your Savings

One of the first things you need to do for your financial safety in time of recession like these recent years, is to have as much saving as possible. Rules of thumb, is to have minimally 8 months of spending in term of savings. 8 months of saving should give you enough time to get your life back on track in period of turmoil.

When I stressed the word “savings”, it is crucial to ensure that the money we are saving as our emergency fund to be as liquid as possible. That means, if you need cash, there is no problem for you to withdraw your savings as hard cash.

Of course everybody likes to have steady growth for their money. However, for your emergency fund to put inside an investment scheme is somewhat risky. If the investment fails, losing your emergency saving to investment will be quite tough to cope with. That is why, any kind of money that set aside to be use within the next 5 years (as such your emergency fund), must not be put into medium or high risk investment.

Even if you put your savings into low risk investment whereby the scheme based on selling price and buying price of invested lot, it would contribute certain risk to your money. If you need to liquidify the money from that investment, and happen that the buying price is very low compare to the bank initial selling price, withdrawing your money from your investment will mean direct lost of your money.

The best way to maintain your emergency saving is simply to put them into saving account. Most of saving accounts are guaranteed by the bank not to loose your money. Of course the growth rate will be very minimal, but at least, for your peace of mind, you know that your money is well taken care of and can easily be withdrawn without having any downside on your money.

I have listed below list of Malaysia banks that offer savings account. Check out their comparative dividend rate and choose the one that will maximize both security and growth of your money.

Banking Institution	Initial Deposit	Rates
	(RM)	Range (RM)	Rates % (p.a.)
Affin Bank Berhad
Ordinary Savings Account	100	1.00-999.99 1,000.00-4,999.99 5,000.00-19,999.99 20,000.00-99,999.99 100,000.00-499,999.99 500,000.00-999,999.99 1,000,000.00 and above	0.35 0.9 1.35 2 2.25 2.5 3
Bank of America Malaysia Berhad
Saving Account	200	equivalent or above USD150k	1
Bank of China (Malaysia) Berhad
Savings Account	20	up to RM5,000 up to RM10,000.00 up to RM20,000.00 up to RM50,000.00 up to RM100,000.00 Above RM100,000	0.25 0.25 0.4 0.5 1.25 1.5
CIMB Bank Berhad
Savings Account (Passbook)	250	Up to 1000 Up to RM 2000 Up to RM 25000 Up to RM 50000 Up to RM 100000 Above RM 100000	0.05 0.05 0.05 0.1 0.15 1
Savings Account (Statement)	250	Up to 1000 Up to RM 2000 Up to RM 25000 Up to RM 50000 Up to RM 100000 Above RM 100000	0.05 0.05 0.05 0.1 0.15 1
Air Asia Savers Account	50	All deposit	0.8
CIMB Islamic Bank Berhad
Mudharabah Saving Account-i	20		1.08
Citibank Berhad
Citibank Hi-Save Account	5000	Up to RM50,000 Up to RM200,000 Up to RM500,000 Up to RM1 million Above RM1 million	0.1 0.25 0.75 1 1.3
Savings Account	500	Up to 50,000 Up to 200,000 Up to 1 million Above 1 million	0.25 0.35 0.75 1
EON Bank Berhad
High Flexi Savings Account	500	Up to 5,000 Up to 10,000 Up to 20,000 Up to 50,000 Above 50,000	0 0.2 0.5 0.8 2
Hong Leong Bank Berhad
Hong Leong Savings Account	200	Up to RM10,000 Up to RM50,000 Up to RM100,000 Above RM100,000	0.1 0.2 0.5 1
Malayan Banking Berhad
Kawanku Savings Account	250	Up to RM10,000 Up to RM25,000 Up to RM50,000 Up to RM100,000 Up to RM200,000 Up to RM500,000 Above RM500,000	0 0.15 0.2 0.45 0.8 0.9 1
OCBC Bank (Malaysia) Berhad
EasiSave Plus	500	Up to RM40,000 Up to RM70,000 Up to RM100,000 Up to RM500,000 Above RM500,000	0.15 0.3 0.5 0.7 1
Money Max	250	Up to RM50,000 Up to RM100,000 Up to RM500,000 Above RM500,000	0.35 0.5 0.6 1.2
External Account	20	Up to RM50,000 Up to RM100,000 Up to RM200,000 Above RM200,000	0 0.05 0.25 0.45
EasiStart Account	0	Up to RM5,000 Up to RM10,000 Up to RM15,000 Above RM15,000	0.2 0.4 0.6 2
iQ Savings Plan	0	RM50 - RM990 monthly RM1,000 - RM5,000 monthly	3.28 4
Public Bank Berhad
PLUS Savings Account	250	Up to RM3,000 Up to RM10,000 Up to RM50,000 Up to RM100,000 Up to RM1.0 Million Above RM1.0 Million	0 0.1 0.2 0.45 0.6 1
PB Savelink Account	500	Up to RM10,000 Up to RM30,000 Up to RM50,000 Up to RM75,000 Up to RM300,000 Up to RM500,000 Up to RM1.0 Million Above RM1.0 Million	0 0.05 0.05 0.2 0.2 0.35 0.35 0.75
Public Islamic Bank Bhd (PIBB)
Wadiah Savings Account-i	250	Up to 3,000 3,000 to 10,000 10,000 to 30,000 30,000 to 50,000 50,000 to 75,000 75,000 to 100,000 Above 100,000	0 0.1 0.2 0.2 0.45 0.45 0.6
RHB Bank Berhad
Passbook Savings	250	Up to 1,000 Up to 10,000 Up to 20,000 Up to 50,000 Up to 100,000 Above 100,000	0 0 0.1 0.25 0.3 1
RHB Statement Savings Account	100	Up to 1,000 Up to 10,000 Up to 20,000 Up to 50,000 Up to 100,000 Above 100,000	0 0.1 0.1 0.3 0.8 1
MaxSave Account	200	Up to 1,000 Up to 10,000 Up to 20,000 Up to 50,000 Up to 100,000 Above 100,000	0 0.6 0.8 1.2 1.7 2
MySave Account	100	Up to RM3,000 Above RM3,000	0 0.6
Standard Chartered Bank Malaysia Berhad
eSaver	0	Up to 100,000 >100,000 - 200,000 >200,000 - 1,000,000 Above 1,000,000	0.4 2 1.3 1.5
Privilege Savings Account	10000	Up to 25,000 >25,000 - 300,000 >300,000 - 800,000 Above 800,000	0 1 1.25 1.5
Master Savings	250	Up to 25,000 >25,000 - 150,000 >150,000 - 300,000 >300,000 - 800,000 Above 800,000	0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.7
My Dream Account	2000	Up to 100,000 >100,000 - 200,000 Above 200,000	0.5 1 1.5
United Overseas Bank (Malaysia) Berhad
Savings Plus	2000	Up to RM 10,000 Up to RM 50,000 Up to RM 100,000 Above RM 100,000	0.1 0.25 0.45 0.8
U-Account	50	Up to RM10,000 Up to RM50,000 Up to RM100,000 Above to RM10,000	0.05 0.05 0.1 0.2
e-Account	500	Up to RM 10,000 Up to RM 50,000 Up to RM 100,000 Above RM 100,000	0.3 0.6 0.9 1.35

Later, I will uncover other ideas on how you can grow your savings in a safer way aside from savings account.