By KT Leong
In conjunction with Global Money Week, Agensi Kaunseling dan Pengurusan Kredit (AKPK) in collaboration with Jabatan Pendidikan Politeknik dan Kolej Komuniti (JPPKK), organised a Financial Literacy Programme for today, which landed them with an entry into the Malaysian Book of Records (MBOR) for the highest number of talks to be conducted at the same time nationwide.
The talks were conducted in polytechnics and community colleges across the nation from 10 am to 12 pm. Over 131 assorted AKPK trainers and speakers gave talks on financial literacy to 102 community colleges and 36 polytechnics all throughout the country.
Ipoh schools are no strangers to the MBOR, and this time, it was Politeknik Ungku Omar (PUO) who brought home this prestige through their participation in a talk by En. Mohd Syahrul Azmi Esha representing AKPK, where as many as 1000 PUO students from across all departments participated in the programme, which was coordinated by the PUO Entrepreneurship Centre and held at their Jubli Hall.
The talk was a practical explanation on financial literacy, presented in easily understood language and examples. While some of the topics sound like simple common sense, the truth is, many people do not practise sound financial planning and have ended up in hot water as a result.
For example, En. Mohd Syahrul broke down the costs of having a wedding and why it was important to have proper marriage budget planning. A proposal can be free but how much does the couple want to spend on the ring? How much for the dowry? You can cut costs by sending out your wedding invitations with WhatsApp, but how about the hall rental and feast? He recounts a story about how a man had come to him, feeling some regret, because he had taken out a RM40,000 loan to pay for his wedding. The loan was used up in just 2 days, but the man has to pay off the debt over a period of 10 years.
The talk was insightful and lean toward living within one’s means, which can be done with financial planning and record keeping.
By a little past 12 pm, the talk was done and the floor was opened for a Questions and Answers session.
And at 12.30 pm, an award presentation by MGBOR was done via FB live, with the presentation’s physical location at Selangor.
