Investment is the First Step, But How?

Since I am back in Kuantan, I suddenly feels there is nothing to do. There is always excess time. There is no more early awakening to cover bed, ward rounds, or do revision. No more (and not yet!) Instead, I woke up to the chirping of the birds and sweetness of the morning mist. There is hardly any motor vehicle that pass through the road in front of my house. Only one word to describe: Peace.

This gave me a lot of space to think. Where do I want to go from here? I have been reading books about investments and given a thought about financial stuffs. I thought I am a person that want to drive a good car. This maybe due to my family background that think that a car is nothing but a depreciating piece of metal, unlike a property or even gold, which will increase in value with time. So we never own a good driving car. However, I always think that I should drive a car that can ferry the passengers safely and feels well made. The car should be up to my status as a professional. So I have had conflicts with them about this matter. My mother wants me to drive a Proton Saga as a fresh man, the most is a Toyota Vios, nothing more. On the other hand, I would prefer something of a higher hierarchy such as a Corolla Altis or a Honda Civic. I even test drove a Civic that day to get the 'feel' of a nice car (however got disappointed by the car and the salesman).

Then, I come across this book that teaches a whole new idea about getting into debts. If we loan from the bank, say RM 100,000.00 to buy a new car, with the interest of 2.38% per annum for 5 years, we are actually paying an extra of whooping RM 11900 for nothing (that's about 11% of the total value!). The monthly instalment will be RM 1865. If we save this amount of money and put it into investment , by the end of 5 years, we will gain more than the amount we paid for instalment. Meantime, drive something cheap before driving your dream car. This idea seems feasible. I will seriously give a thought to it. In fact, starting a life with huge debt is no good as it limits the amount of cash flow into investment that would be dependent of the time factor. The earlier we start investing, the better it is.

I am still at the crossroad of how to invest. Can someone help me?