Being calculative for the wrong reasons

City folks are calculative, in certain sense. They calculate the tolls that they are able to skip by choosing different routes to reach their destination. They calculate how much points they could earn on Bonus Link when making a decision to purchase a product. They figure out which computer shop to visit from lowyat.net before purchasing digital peripherals. They try different ways and spent a lot of time convincing their banks to waive the credit card annual fees.

We are always calculative on little things that are well publicised. Everyone in the city knows about toll-skipping routes, you will looked dumb for not knowing that. Even ladies shop often in Low Yat nowadays. We often overlooked the non-obvious stuff when we choose to be calculative. I will bring out a few simple examples.

Most of the people working city owns more than one bank account, even there is only one which is active. This is partly because most of us opt to have a career change every 2 to 3 years. Most of the companies insist their employees to have accounts with the bank they dealt with. Many therefore ended up with 3 or 4 ATM cards. I know of a friend who owns 8 ATM cards. Are you aware of how much an ATM card cost per annum? It is RM 8 per annum, regardless of your usage(for most banks). 8 cards would mean RM 64 per annum. You will seldom notice it because it is automatically deducted from your bank account. You will not feel the pinch as it is a minimal sum compared to your savings in bank. Do you really need all your ATM cards ? For your information, my ATM card is also my credit card. I pay RM 0 for ATM facilities although my daily withdrawal limit is capped to RM 3000. Of course, my credit card annual fees are normally automatically waived by the banks without even needing me to call them. (I only stick to one credit card to focus my spending on one card)

Many know how much they paid for their road tax every year but not their car insurance. We always get runners to renew our insurance and road tax without knowing much about the details. Do you know that your car value depreciates year by year ? This results in lower insurance premium. However, most drivers are not aware of this. They paid whatever standard amount which is advised by their insurance agents. The premium for RM80K and RM60K can be very different. Are you aware of that?

The list of examples will never end if I decide to cite every one of them. Advice for the day, it's good to be calculative at times, but not for the wrong reasons.