PARTICIPANT ACCOUNTS
What people have said
about working with us
These are accounts from adults who attended our programmes. They are written in their own words.
Return to homepage8+
Years running programmes in Penang
340+
Participants across all programmes
4.7/5
Average satisfaction across programmes
91%
Participants who maintained their records 3 months later
PARTICIPANT REVIEWS
In their own words
Siti Rohani Aziz
Admin executive, Penang
I attended the Personal Ledger Workshop in March and honestly I was not sure what to expect. I have tried various apps before and they never stuck. What was different here is that they actually asked me how I like to work before suggesting anything. I ended up with a simple notebook system — which would have embarrassed me to admit before, but it is the one I have kept going for almost two months now.
March 2025 — Personal Ledger Workshop
Tan Chee Keong
Secondary school teacher, Butterworth
The Pre-Retirement Reading Programme was genuinely useful. I am 52, so retirement is not immediate, but it is also not as far away as I used to tell myself. Going through the EPF materials with someone who could answer specific questions — including the more awkward ones about whether my contributions are actually enough — was worth far more than reading the KWSP website on my own.
February 2025 — Pre-Retirement Reading Programme
Nadia binti Baharom
Small business owner, Georgetown
I initially thought this would be too basic for me — I run my own business and I do my accounts. But my personal finances had been separate from my business in my head for years and that was creating some confusion. The workshop helped me draw a much cleaner line between the two. The only thing I would have liked was more time on the e-wallet reconciliation part, as that is where I still get a bit lost.
March 2025 — Personal Ledger Workshop
Koh Li Ying & husband
Household, Tanjung Tokong
We did the Family Record-Keeping engagement last year. We had two children, a house, two EPF accounts, three insurance policies we did not fully understand, and absolutely no system. The engagement was slow in a good way — each session we went through something specific and by the end we had a binder and a review calendar we actually use. The written guide is sitting on our bookshelf and we have referred to it twice already.
January 2025 — Family Record-Keeping Engagement
Rajesh Pillai
Engineer, Bayan Lepas
What I appreciated most about the Pre-Retirement sessions was that nobody tried to sell me anything. I have been to events like this before where the whole thing turned out to be a lead-up to a product recommendation. Here, every session ended with me understanding more about my own situation, not with a brochure. The spacing between sessions — usually two to three weeks — gave me time to check things myself before coming back.
February 2025 — Pre-Retirement Reading Programme
Hafizah Zainudin
Nurse, Seberang Jaya
The Saturday workshop was a good, solid day. I had been putting off setting up a proper ledger for about three years — always telling myself I would do it properly eventually. Having a whole day where that was the only thing on the agenda made it easy to actually get started. I would have liked more worked examples for people who have irregular monthly income, as my shifts mean my pay varies.
April 2025 — Personal Ledger Workshop
CASE STUDIES
A few accounts in more detail
CASE STUDY — FAMILY RECORD-KEEPING
THE SITUATION
A household of four in Penang with both spouses working. Insurance policies across three providers, two properties, and no clear list of what was held where. Documents scattered across different folders, drawers, and email accounts.
THE ENGAGEMENT
Over four months, working with the facilitator, the household assembled a complete record of all financial holdings and built a single filing system. Annual and quarterly review dates were agreed and added to the family calendar.
THE OUTCOME
The household identified one insurance policy that had lapsed unnoticed, and a separate policy that was duplicating existing coverage. The written guide is now the reference point for both spouses when any financial question comes up.
CASE STUDY — PRE-RETIREMENT READING
THE SITUATION
A civil servant in his mid-fifties with twenty-eight years of EPF contributions. He was aware of the general shape of his retirement but had not read his EPF statement carefully or thought through the account withdrawal structure.
THE PROGRAMME
The five sessions walked through his actual EPF statement, the mechanics of Account 1 and Account 2 access, what his post-retirement income sources realistically looked like, and how to think about healthcare costs against his existing policy coverage.
THE OUTCOME
He produced a one-page written retirement plan that he described as "the most useful single page I have written in years." He subsequently reviewed his PRS contributions and made one adjustment based on what he had learned.
CASE STUDY — PERSONAL LEDGER WORKSHOP
THE SITUATION
A young professional who had been earning for four years and had no clear picture of where his money was going. He used three e-wallets and two bank accounts. He knew he was not saving well but did not know why.
THE WORKSHOP
The workshop helped him categorise his spending in a way that matched how he actually lived — including the fact that food delivery and café spending were separate from grocery spending in his habits, even if budgeting guides typically lump them together.
THE OUTCOME
Within six weeks he had a working monthly ledger in a spreadsheet he had built himself, and had identified a recurring subscription he had forgotten about. The ledger was still running as of his follow-up note three months later.
REACH US
Get in touch
TELEPHONE
+60 4-263 7185ADDRESS
No. 27A George Town Heritage Row
Lebuh Pantai, 10300 George Town, Penang
OFFICE HOURS
Monday – Friday: 9:00 am – 5:30 pm
Selected Saturdays: 9:00 am – 1:00 pm
If you would like to attend a forthcoming workshop, enquire about a programme, or simply ask a question before deciding, we are glad to hear from you.
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