Top List of Personal Finance Books for Malaysians [written by Malaysian Authors]

There are many personal finance books published every year. But only handfuls are written by Malaysians. These are the books in my book shelf, which are written by Malaysian authors, especially for Malaysians. The topics covered here range from financial planning, estate planning, tax planning to stock and real estate investment.

If you are looking for books to buy, please bookmark this page and come back from time to time for books review update.

Updated 27 November 2021

Money Smart: Achieve Your Financial Goals Faster with Less!

So sorry that I have to shamelessly put my own book at the top spot. I sincerely think that this is the best personal finance book by Malaysian author that you can get right now.

It compiles my best writing over the years. There are many unconventional ideas that you won’t find in many other books.

You will discover the most powerful money practices that will boost your chance of financial success including:

• The three strategies of effective wealth accumulation
• The two magic numbers for comfortable retirement
• What the rich know that we don’t
• Redefining assets and debts: what’s good & what’s bad
• How to maintain & maximise your credit score.

The book is available in major bookstores. You can always get it directly from my publisher at Shopee.

Maximise What You’ve Got, No Matter How Much You Have Now

The author Yap Ming Hui is one of the high profile financial advisers in Malaysia. His clients consist of millionaires and listed company founders. In this book, there are 10 real life lessons.

Lesson 1: Start you journey today – Procrastination is the obstacle of sound financial planning. It’s a question of how early you get started on wealth management. It is not how much you make.
Lesson 2: You can never over-save – This chapter is about the importance of saving and Parkinson’s Law: expenditure rise to meet income. Yap also writes about frugality, and budgeting.
Lesson 3: Focus on life’s big picture – Every financial goal relates directly to key values for many people. Several advices are given including planning your estate to pass on your values via living trust.
Lesson 4: Know when to use your brain… not your heart – never be emotional when doing financial decision. People will end up purchasing financial products they don’t need from agents. Investment policy statement and wealth distribution policy statement is essential so that your advisers know what you really prioritize in your life.
Lesson 5: Keep your financial house in order – This chapter is about the complication of double tragedy (when husband and wife passed away together) and propose some solutions.
Lesson 6: A little knowledge could be dangerous – Beware of the impact of losing capital. Capital preservation also includes personal and business interest estate planning.
Lesson 7: Wealth Management is a life-long marathon – Reviewing and rebalancing your investment portfolio and updating your financial goals and statement in regular basis.
Lesson 8: Learn when and how to diversity your nest eggs – This chapter is about smart investing using asset allocation principles.
Lesson 9: Understand the good and bad of debt – Debt will deplete our estate due to many circumstances.
Lesson 10: Appoint yourself as CEO for your wealth – Personal wealth is your most important business.

Above 10 simple lessons cover very wide range of financial planning topics. The topics are discussed in layman terms and less technical. This is a must-read book for the rich, or those who intend to be rich someday.

Author: Yap Ming Hui
Price: RM29.90
Total pages: 157

The Millionaire in Me

As written as the subtitle, this book is about how to remain an employee and still become a millionaire. The topics include:

• The millionaire employee
• Four factors affecting your income as an employee
• how to make more money as an employee
• how to save and invest
• avoid making major financial mistakes

The book is divided into 3 parts. The first is about being a successful employee. The second part talks about being a free agent and generating additional income sources. The last part is about some personal finance principles like saving, investing and cash flow management.

Author: Azizi Ali
Price: RM39.90
Total pages: 190

Wealth, a Burden & a Legacy

This book has 13 chapters and focus on estate planning. Estate planning is the process of planning how to distribute your wealth. Topics include:

• estate planning explained
• planning your will
• executor selection
• trust explanation
• how to make the most of your insurance plan

The author, Joshua Lim is a founding member of BHLB Trustee Bhd. He covers many technical areas of estate planning, but does not go in depth on the total solution. But if he did go in depth, it will be like writing a user manual that will make the book dull and hard to read.

The 12th chapter is about the 6 steps guide to plan your wealth distribution. If you want to know what consist of a sound estate plan, this book covers the entire essential. It is suitable for those who are starting to learn about this area of financial planning. Other than that, I found no exciting ideas presented that’s worth for professional.

Author: Joshua Lim
Price: RM29.90
Total pages: 151

I Love Stocks: Your Guide to Profitable Trading

The contents are divided into 5 parts:

• Part 1 – The Basics
• Part 2 – Fundamental Analysis
• Part 3 – Technical Analysis
• Part 4 – Market Analysis
• Part 5 – Strategies

There is a bonus part starting on page 160 which is a collection of financial glossary. It is easy to refer to when you are facing some industry jargons while reading this book.

The topics covered range from introduction of Bursa Malaysia, to more technical part of stock analysis. It basically covers everything you need to know about stock investment in Malaysia. There are 17 true story kind of example that give you more real life instances about people making money, or losing it in the local stock market.

I would say that this is a very simple and short book, yet still packed in the most essential investment knowledge. It is fun to read and easy to understand. Great buy!

Author: Pauline Yong
Price: RM26.80
Total pages: 170

Your Tenants, Your Jewels

Renesial Leong published two books about real estate investment in several languages including Chinese and Malay. This one is about the requirement to be a successful landlord.

The tips and tricks taught in the book are very practical. Topics include:

• Suitable terms with leases
• how to find your perfect tenants
• understanding the needs of your tenants
• what is the suitable rental to charge
• legalities
• the handover of your rental property
• how to insure your property
• effective property management
• dealing with problem tenants
• how to keep your good tenants

The bonus Appendices section features property inspection check list and a sample tenancy agreement. This is an easy-to-read and hands-on guide to tenant management. I would keep it for reference to deal with my rental property investment.

Author: Renesial Leong
Price: RM68.80
Total pages: 201

mXe!

Azizi Ali shares the five keys to become an extreme millionaire in this mXe! (This is a registered Trademark!). This book has a funny layout. It is actually not funny, but odd. However, I think it is unique actually. There are personal finance tips on the right-sided pages, and all the extreme adventures on the left-sided pages.

The five keys of being an extreme millionaire are:

• free your mind
• be an extremist
• follow your dreams
• get into sales
• live life

Beside these tips, half of the book is about the author’s adventurous travel, and about most of the places he has been to. Traveling is one of the most commonly shared financial goals. If you think having a lot of money and being able to free yourself and travel a lot, this book will provide you the motivation.

Author: Azizi Ali
Price: RM39.90
Total pages: 233

MaxWealth: How to Maximise Your Wealth Beyond Investment Returns

This book is the third from Yap Ming Hui after You Can’t Manage Your Money… Especially when you’re Rich, and Maximise What You’ve Got… No Matter How Much You Have.

In this thought provoking and inspiring new book MaxWealth�, Yap Ming Hui advocates that the investment returns is not – and ought not to be – the center of successful wealth management. Instead, your life should.

Frankly, I like the first two more than this one. Anyway, there are still some concepts worth to be grabbed here. The font is extremely big. You can finish reading it within hours.

Yap explains what his trademarked MaxWealth really means. Topics include:

• how to MaxWealth
• When do you start to MaxWealth
• The Six Dimensions of MaxWealth
• The Decision Pyramid of MaxWealth
• The Four Pillars of MaxWealth

I like the part about the four pillars the most. It is an enhanced version of financial planning model. Yap is definitely one of the most talented and smartest financial planners around.

Author: Yap Ming Hui
Price: RM29.90
Total pages: 129

Top 10 Money Tips for Malaysians

Sorry that I keep promoting my ebook. But there is actually nothing to lose. The tips compiled in my ebook are very practical and easy to implement. Spend a few hours reading it, and I guarantee that you will save a few thousand ringgit minimum in the long run.

My tips include:

• how to get your first car totally rebated
• how to save unit trust service charges
• how to “replace” your investment

I dare to give a money-back guarantee. Or 150% money-back guarantee. Oh.. since it is free, this is actually a win-win situation.. if you can’t learn anything new in the ebook, just return the ebook to me and I’ll refund your “email” 🙂 Because that’s all I ask for to provide you the ebook absolutely free of charge.

You can download the ebook for free by typing your email address in the box below.

After you’ve downloaded the ebook, please “pay it forward” by forwarding it to your friends, relatives and family members. Share the money tips! At the meantime, you are also helping to get more readers to my website. Thanks.

Author: KCLau
Price: Free
Total pages: 24

Update (18th Nov 2008): This ebook is no longer available. However, you can still sign up to receive the free preview copy of my latest book: Top Money Tips for Malaysians

Personal Money Magazine

I subscribe to this magazine ever since it is launched a few years ago. I couldn’t see why I would stop the subscription. It is cheaper than buying the magazine direct from the news stand. Some columns of my favourites include:

• the monthly theme which covers different topics every month
• the unit trust and investment-linked performance charts and rating
• the home loan packages offer in a glance
• the financial products advertisement (Yes! That’s how I keep up with what’s available on the market)
• Personally speaking column where readers write in their true and personal story about money matters

I will continue to be a loyal reader of this marvelous magazine.

Editor: Tan Su-Yin
Price: RM9/monthly issue, or RM75.60/year subscription
Total pages: 96

Malaysian Tax Made Simple

Tax is actually a boring subject. After reading the whole book, you might find that only a portion of the facts are relevant to your situation.

Honestly, I couldn’t finish the book. Even though the author tried hard to make this book an easy digest. But I just couldn’t read it till the last page, because tax itself is really a boring subject.

However, this book still provides the best guideline if you want to save more tax and plan your tax well. A good tax plan is to declare a good income, but pay the least that’s due. Tax will affect how we spend money, and also where we store the money. Read this book to understand how to use tax regulation to your benefits.

This book includes IRB guidelines, Public Rulings in the Appendices, and also touch about self-assessment and some sample comprehensive calculations.

Author: David Hor
Price: RM35
Total pages: 266

Winning at Property Auctions

This is one of the most expensive books by Azizi Ali. Disregarding the value you get from the content, this book is certainly overpriced for a stunning price of RM69.90. The book is very thin, only 98 pages but comes with a very thick hard cover. We really don’t need a thick cover for a very thin book!

The book starts off with an exciting personal experience story where Azizi describes in details how he goes through the auction process. This very first chapter is the best part of the whole book. Azizi generously gives tips and tricks to avoid syndicates and nervousness.

Other topics include:

• why buy at auctions
• calculating the bid price
• what to do after the auctions
• financing your purchase

You can also find sample of auction contracts, proclamations of sale advertisement and authorization letter in the appendices.

Azizi Ali is a very experienced auctions bidder. Before you to a property auction, I recommend that you read this book first. It might save you a lot of money and hassle.

Author: Azizi Ali
Price: RM69.90
Total pages: 98

You Can Become Rich in Property

This book covers three proven and tested property investment strategies for making money in real estate, and also four ways to become rich in properties. It is divided into three parts

• Part 1: covers the fundamental of what you need to know about property investment
• Part 2: covers accelerated property investment strategies. It is about the skills in making money in property investment.
• Part 3: it is about the four ways of becoming rich in properties – via the property market cycle, your own home, holistic property investment and personal strategic property investment planning.

The author has 20 experiences in real estate and had read more than 100 property-related books. That’s a whole ton of knowledge from Dr. Peter, all packed inside a 160 pages book. I finished reading it within days and the writing suits me well — simple, precise, and straight to the point.

Author: Dr. Peter Yee
Price: RM49.90
Total pages: 160

How to Become a Millionaire Landlord

Azizi Ali had written a series of property investment books. This one is specifically about how to become a successful landlord.

Contents include:

• Part 1: why property investment? Why rentals? Types of properties, and financing your purchase
• Part 2: how to manage your rental properties, how to choose your super tenants, and some common problems as a landlord
• Part 3: insure your money machine, keep proper records and FAQ

Unlike Dr. Peter Yee, Azizi prefers residential properties rather than commercial.

The gems in this book is the appendices part where you can find a direct report sheet (for tenant use), moving checklist, moving out notice (for landlord use), rental application form (for interviewing tenants), property inspection checklist, property cash flow tracker, and finally and the most important of all – the special tenancy agreement which is specifically written/modified by Azizi himself.

Author: Azizi Ali
Price: RM39.90
Total pages: 149

How to Become a Property Millionaire

The subtitle – The ultimate guide on how to make lots of money from property investment – clearly defines the content of this book.

Some interesting topics within the books are:

• the five critical success factors
• eight additional essential points
• calculating your returns
• tools of the bull
• 4 ways to make a million from properties
• individual vs. company

The best part in this book is the property investment analysis form on page 72. I created an excel spreadsheet using the format of this form and use it for all my property investment analysis. It is handy and I can analyse a property investment within minutes. Azizi Ali is definitely one of the smartest investors in Malaysia.

As usual, the book has many appendices that are very handy for references.

Author: Azizi Ali
Price: RM39.90
Total pages: 218

A “No Sweat” Approach to Mathematics in Personal and Business Finance

I attended a course tutored by the author, Chai Kon Lin during my RFP (Registered Financial Planner) pursuit. He is a very smart and knowledgeable speaker and writer.

I bought this book but never read it from start to end. The reason is that this book is more for a reference guide. When I face some financial related mathematics problem, this book is the first I refer too, always.

Contents include:

• Wealth accumulation computations
• wealth distribution mathematics
• risk and return measurement
• price and cost of insurance protection
• computing consumption credits
• computing fixed loans
• computation of bonds variables
• practical uses of the financial calculator

The book covers the use of 2 financial calculator, the HP10B (Hewlett-Packard), and Casio FC100. Buy the calculator before you get the book.

Author: Chai Kon Lin
Price: RM40.00
Total pages: 302

Can Wealth Last Three Generations

The author, Ong Eu Jin is an expert in estate planning. His previous books include Your Guide To Estate Planning and Administration and Your Guide to Trusts in Financial Planning. I read his previous book and don’t have them in my book shelves, because I can’t find it in the local book stores. In fact, his books are great and should be read by everyone in the financial planning industry.

This book covers some advanced and sophisticated uses of trusts and some other estate planning methods. There are many examples quoted and makes the contents interesting.

Contents include:

• how much wealth has been retained by the next generation
• how to avoid conflict in a business empire
• loss of wealth to other families through marriage
• squandering by spendthrift heirs
• focus on the family succession planning for family-owned businesses
• how are wills used in succession planning of a family business
• succession planning for business partnerships
• the buy-sell agreement

If you already have a certain wealth, or a successful business, please read this book. It might save your family (no kidding).

Author: Ong Eu Jin
Price: RM39.00
Total pages: 242

One thing I realize after reviewing these books is that most of the books are less than 200 pages, while most foreign author writes more than 200 pages and some are even in the 300-400 pages range.

That’s all the books I have and read about personal finance in Malaysia. In the future, I will update this post with new books.