Online Share Trading? How good is that and how cheap is that?

Good morning everyone... hmmm my friend pop up a question about online share trading to me this morning.... well welcome again to my banking hall... :)

Lets me introduce to you first what is online trading. Basically you can trade (buy or sell) your shares from anywhere with internet access. But not many people like it. What the reason?

The infrastructure is created in the way that the investors orders are actually sent to a company dealer whom will finally key in your order to the system. The investors are not able to sent his/her orders directly to Bursa. FYI Bursa is working to allow corporates trades to do it directly to Bursa which is called Direct Market Access (DMA). Because of the delay between the time investors key and and waiting for the dealer to press the last button, some investors are not comfortable, therefore still prefer to dail up and trade :)

Starting from 1/1/2008, the brokerage fees for online trading is FULLY NEGOTIABLE! Anyhow most companies still stick to the old fees of 30% discount from the normal phone trading. That comes to 0.42%( assuming if your brokerage fees is 0.60%, after 30% discount is 0.42% ) . If you have a very big trading volume.... maybe RM1mill and above (depends on the management decision), you can negotiate for lower price.

The minimum brokerage fees is also FULLY NEGOTIABLE! But again it's somehow all the banks and stockbroking firm has a common understanding to set it at RM28. Comparing to phone trading is minimum RM40. It is consider an increase in the minimum brokerage because last year it was charged at minimum rate of RM12. Therefore you have to trade at least RM6667 in order to enjoy the full benefit of 0.42% ( RM28/0.42%=RM6667 )

Petrol Linked Credit Cards? Enough! Which One Is Better?

Currently there are a few petrol purchase relatedcredit cards in the market. Lets do a detailed reviewor analysis on these few cards. Imagine spendingRM300/month on petrol and getting a 3% rebate convertto a RM108 savings yearly!!!!! Ok ready, get set GO!!!

BHP- UOB ( also available for SCB and Affin but i am notgoing to discuss about this )

UOB offers 2% cash rebate (redeemable after accumulateRM50) for both classic and gold cardUse this card together with BHP E-points, 1 point forRM1 purchase of petrol and you can redeem RM5 for each500 epoints you have. That convert to another 1% ofrebateTherefore the total rebate for using UOB with BHPEpoint is 2%+1%= 3%

Petronas
- Maybank (Petronas VISA)

Offer 5X treat points (TP) for every RM of petrolpurchases. You need to spend RM1800 in order to get9000TP which is redemable for RM50 (RM10X5 worth ofpetrol voucher). This convert to a rebate of 2.78%(RM50/RM1800). BUT 5X EXTRA POINTS IS ONLY VALID TILL31 JULY 2008.

Use this card together with Petronas Mesra Card, everyRM1 purchase of petrol will get 1 mesra point. If you use RM7600 on petrol, u are entitle for RM50 cashvoucher which is equivalent to another rebate of 0.66%

Therefore the total rebate for using Maybank with Kadmesra is 2.78%+0.66%= 3.44% (THIS CALCULATION IS ONLYVALID TILL 31 JULY 2008 BECAUSE OF THE 5X POINTSPROMOTIN BY MAYBANK)

- CIMB (Petronas Master)CIMB offers 2% cash rebate for both classic and goldcard

Use this card together with Petronas Mesra Card, everyRM1 purchase of petrol will get 1 mesra point. If youuse RM7600 on petrol, u are entitle for RM50 cashvoucher which is equivalent to another rebate of 0.66%Therefore the total rebate for using CIMB with Kadmesra is 2%+0.66%= 2.66%

Shell
- Citibank

Offers 1.5% rebate (classic card and assume no balancecarry forward) while 2.5% rebate (gold card and assumeno balance carry forward)

Use this card together with Bonus Link Card, every RM1purchase of petrol will get 1 Bonus Link point (thereis bonus points structure too). If you use RM5200 onpetrol, u are entitle for RM50 cash voucher which isequivalent to another rebate of 0.96%

Therefore the total rebate for using Citibank Cardwith Bonus Link card is 1.5%+0.96%= 2.46% for classicand 2.5%+0.96%=3.46% for gold cardOther BanksPlease take note that RHB also has travel money pointswhich offer 5X points for all petrol purchases on anypetrol station.

CONCLUSION:-If you can get classis card only, then I suggest youto use UOB (total 3% rebate). If you can get goldcard, then go for Citibank (total 3.46% rebate).If you are too lazy to make payment (or it's really soinconvenient for you to make payment at Citibank orUOB), then use Maybank or CIMB bank.For the lazy bums, I suggest you to take Maybank (ifyou fancy the 5X treat points) else just go forCIMB... personally I think MBB and CIMB providesequivalent service... Hope this helps to summarize almost all of the petrollinked credit cards in Malaysia. Adios!!!