participant experiences
What people say after completing a programme
Honest accounts from participants across our three programmes — individuals, couples, and families in Kuala Lumpur.
back to home7+
years running
340+
participants
4.7/5
average rating
94%
completion rate
participant reviews
In participants' own words
HR Manager · Petaling Jaya
I did the Household Money Map with my husband. We had been arguing about money for two years without making much progress, and after the second session we both realised we had been arguing about different things — he was worried about the future and I was worried about this month. Just having that laid out calmly in front of us was worth the programme fee on its own. The workbook helped us continue the conversation after the sessions ended.
April 2025 · Household Money Map
Software Engineer · Kuala Lumpur
The Investing Reading Group was the first time I actually understood what I was holding in my EPF Account 3 and the unit trust my bank recommended me three years ago. The pace was genuinely slow — at first I thought it might be too slow — but by week four I was grateful for it. Some weeks I needed the extra days between sessions to sit with what we had covered. The cap on group size meant everyone could ask without feeling like they were slowing the room down.
March 2025 · Investing Reading Group
Teacher · Shah Alam
I was hesitant because I had tried a financial planning app and a few online videos before and neither helped me actually change anything. The difference here was that someone sat with me and we looked at my actual numbers together — not hypothetical scenarios. I left the first session with a tracker template I have been using every month since. The follow-up check-in was also useful — I had drifted from a few things and it helped me correct course.
April 2025 · Household Money Map
Accountant · Cheras, KL
I work with numbers daily but I had always kept my professional work and personal finances in separate boxes. The Family Finance Engagement helped my wife and I sit down and treat our household the same way I would treat a client's accounts — with actual categories, actual projections for the kids' schooling, and a written summary we both signed off on. The one-page plan at the end felt small but it was the first time we had a shared document we could both point to.
March 2025 · Family Finance Engagement
Marketing Executive · Subang Jaya
I joined the reading group mostly because a colleague had done it and said it was different from anything she had tried before. She was right. The best session for me was week three on fees — I had no idea how much a 1.5% expense ratio costs you over twenty years. We actually worked through the maths together in the room and I remember the number very clearly. No product was ever mentioned, which I appreciated — I left with understanding, not a product recommendation.
February 2025 · Investing Reading Group
Dual-income family · Ampang
We have three children and we had been meaning to do something about our finances properly for years. The four-month engagement gave us the structure we could not give ourselves. The insurance coverage review alone found a gap we had not noticed. We finished with a written plan that is now posted inside a folder we both access. The sessions were calm and the facilitator never made us feel behind or disorganised — which helped us be more honest than we might otherwise have been.
March 2025 · Family Finance Engagement
case studies
Three participant journeys in detail
the situation
A salaried professional in her early thirties had received two promotions in four years but could not account for where the additional income had gone. She felt comfortable financially but suspected she was not directing her money intentionally.
what we worked through
The three sessions mapped her actual income flow — gross, statutory deductions, take-home — and traced regular and irregular outgoings. We identified three sinking fund candidates she had not separated: annual insurance renewals, car servicing, and a family contribution she had been covering ad hoc.
what changed
By the four-week follow-up, she had set up three separate sub-accounts for the sinking funds and was contributing fixed amounts monthly. She described the primary change as feeling in control of her finances for the first time rather than reacting to them.
"I had been earning more for four years but it disappeared. Now I know where it goes, and most of it goes where I actually want it to."
the situation
A man in his late twenties had been contributing to a unit trust for three years through his bank's advisory service. He had never read the fund fact sheet and did not know what asset class the fund held or what the management fee was.
what we worked through
Over six weeks the group covered the structure of unit trusts, how to read a fund fact sheet, what annual management fees and total expense ratios mean in compounding terms, and how risk tolerance and investment horizon interact. The participant brought his own fund's fact sheet to week five.
what changed
After completing the programme, he independently reviewed the fund he held and sought a comparison from a licensed unit trust consultant — equipped to ask specific questions about fees and asset allocation rather than accepting a recommendation passively. He described this shift as significant.
"I went back to my bank and asked questions I had never known to ask. The adviser seemed surprised. So was I."
the situation
A couple with two school-age children and dual incomes wanted to begin saving for education and possibly purchase a second property within five years. They had not previously looked at their finances as a shared system — each managed their own salary separately and contributed to shared expenses informally.
what we worked through
The engagement began with a full review of both incomes and obligations, then worked through education cost scenarios for two children at different types of institution, reviewed EPF balances and voluntary contribution capacity, assessed insurance coverage against what was genuinely needed, and explored what a home purchase in five years would require in monthly preparation.
what changed
The household consolidated their financial approach, opened a shared education savings account, adjusted voluntary EPF contributions, and identified an insurance gap in the husband's medical coverage. The one-page plan they left with included monthly saving targets they had both agreed on and understood.
"For the first time we had a shared document. Not a spreadsheet one of us built — something we both helped make."
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