Ringgit and Sense

With trillions passing to heirs globally and an estimated RM90 billion in undistributed inherited assets across Malaysia, preparing successors involves far more than transferring financial balances.

Lim Eng Ping, Maybank’s Head of Wealth Management Malaysia, and Abdul Halim Abdul Rashid, Maybank Islamic’s Head of Islamic Wealth Management Malaysia, join BFM’s Ringgit and Sense to discuss how families can successfully navigate intergenerational succession.

They unpack why instilling values, financial discipline, and stewardship early in children is essential to long-term wealth preservation.

They also detail how values-aligned legacy planning solutions, including Wasiat, Hibah, and trusts protect family-owned assets and businesses, and prevent potential estate disputes before life events make planning urgent.

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How should you value a stock? There are numerous ways and models to value a company, but using the wrong one can give a very misleading picture of what a business is actually worth. Pankaj C. Kumar, Managing Director of Datametrics Research and Information Centre (DARE), joins BFM’s Ringgit & Sense to break down the variety of valuation methods and explain when each is appropriate.

He dives into the P/E ratio, discounted cash flow (DCF), price-to-book price-to-sales, and EV/EBITDA, illustrating how to match specific metrics to the right industry sectors, how to evaluate analyst target prices with healthy skepticism, and when buying ETFs is smarter than picking individual stocks.

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Should individual investors avoid investing in IPOs?

With data showing that two out of three IPOs in Malaysia trade below their listing price within a year, separating genuine long-term value from short-term market hype is harder than ever.

Ng Zhu Hann, CEO of TradeView Capital, joins BFM’s Ringgit and Sense to discuss why first-day price pops and high over-subscription rates can be deceiving, and what it really takes to evaluate an initial public offering (IPO).

He reveals critical prospectus red flags to look for before placing a bid, from subtle governance warnings in Related Party Transactions to single-customer concentration risks. He also shares key metrics for assessing how listing proceeds are allocated and how investors should evaluate pre-IPO dividend payouts.

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A viral story claims a retiree allegedly blew through RM700,000 in EPF savings in just 21 days. True or false, it highlights a terrifying reality: decades of disciplined accumulation can vanish very quickly without a decumulation plan.

Stephen Yong, Licensed Financial Planner and Executive Director of Wealth Vantage Advisory, joins BFM’s Ringgit and Sense to discuss the best practices and mindsets to adopt when you finally get access to your EPF money.

He explains how sudden access to large lump-sum retirement balances can trigger a "windfall" mindset, leading to rapid capital depletion, as well as why retirees should retain core funds in the Employees Provident Fund (EPF) to leverage its historical dividend yields.

He also breaks down how to calculate retirement targets while accounting for inflation and longevity risk, and shares his 3-step checklist before you make your first EPF withdrawal.

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Malaysian employees have until August 31st to make an important financial choice: whether to remain in or opt out of PERKESO’s new 24-hour accident protection scheme, Lindung 24 Jam.

While regular SOCSO deductions cover workplace-related incidents and invalidity, this new 0.75% salary deduction (rising to 1% in 2028 and 1.25% in 2031) extends income replacement to non-work-related accidents. But if you already hold personal accident, life, or medical insurance, are you simply paying twice for the same coverage?

Licensed financial planner Ian Wong, Founder & CEO of Uno Advisers, joins BFM’s Ringgit and Sense to break down how Lindung 24 Jam bridges critical insurance loopholes, examine the RM6,000 salary capping mechanism, and provide a clear decision framework for employees evaluating whether to stay in or opt out before the deadline.

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ASEAN's affluent population is growing by 5-6% a year, with the middle class set to make up 65-70% of the region by 2030. CIMB's Haniz Nazlan joins us to break down what's driving this boom, and how wealth management is being rewritten as fortunes are built, protected, and transferred.

Click here to find out more about CIMB Private Wealth.

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At the midpoint of 2026, a fragile US-Iran ceasefire has broken down while an AI-fuelled memory chip boom has sent Korea's Kospi up 77%, and central banks are growing more cautious as inflation proves sticky. Harmander Mahal from Standard Chartered joins us to unpack what it all means for portfolios, from equities and bonds to gold and cash.

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About 38% of EPF members have reached what EPF calls "Basic Savings," up from 35% last year, but that still leaves 62% short. And "Basic Savings" only covers bare necessities. Felix Neoh joins us to unpack what's realistic for salaried employees, gig workers, and stretched households trying to close the savings gap, and offers ways to boost our retirement funds.

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AI infrastructure buildouts, a wave of mega IPOs, energy supply shocks, and shifting safe-haven dynamics have prompted investors to rethink their positioning for the second half of 2026. Desmond Kuang from HSBC joins us to discuss the private bank’s Q3 investment themes and portfolio construction strategies.

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Singapore is Southeast Asia's largest stock market, but most Malaysian investors only go as far as DBS, UOB, and OCBC for dividends. Is there more to the SGX than yield plays?

We discuss:

• • Beyond the banks and REITs, which sectors and themes on the Singapore stock market deserve a closer look.

• Can Singapore small caps deliver the multi-bagger returns and what to look for when picking them.

• How Singaporean REITs stack up against Malaysian REITs

• What the new SGX-Nasdaq dual-listing arrangement, share buybacks, and MAS-backed market reforms actually mean for retail investors.

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