iHerb Review: My Experience with Online Vitamins Purchase

Updates (29 Mar, 2014): I've been using DHL Express shipping services with a minimum cost of USD 8 for around 1.5kg of parcel weight. Shipment will arrive in 4 - 5 days and so far I have no issues with Malaysian Custom Department.

I've been buying vitamins and supplements from our friendly neighbourhood stores and pharmacies for as long as i can remember. However, I've been pondering recently whether i should try to source for vitamins and supplements online for cheaper alternatives. I stumbled across one of the larger online vitamins and supplements store that shipped to Malaysia at a very reasonable freight charge, iHerb.

I digged through the Web and found some reviews on the online store iHerb, here and here. With quite promising reviews from the consumers, I took the plunge and ordered 3 bottles of fish oil capsules from iHerb. The amazing thing is the price of the fish oils are so much cheaper AND the shipping cost to Malaysia is only USD 4 via International Airmail (depending on the shipment weight). The drawback is that there is no tracking of parcels for this cheap shipping alternative. Apart from that, the first time you order from iHerb, you need to verify your credit card with iHerb. What you can do is to call your credit card call centre and ask them the 6-digit authorization code for the online purchase that you've made. Then, go to this Contact page and feedback to iHerb on your authorization code. I prefer to use Live Chat to connect to the iHerb representatives which typically comes online around midnight Malaysia time. Once the representative has verified your authorization code, your parcel will be on the way to you!

Comparison of Deductible Medical Cards

This article intends to compare some of the main features of the deductible standalone medical cards offered by some of the leading life and general insurance companies in Malaysia, such as Hong Leong Assurance and Tokio Marine. For the purpose of this article, we will assume that a non-smoking male with the next birthday of 30 years old wants to purchase a RM10,000 deductible medical card with a room & board rate of RM 200 per night.

Here's what he will get from the deductible medical card mentioned above:

UPDATED: How to declare tax for unit trust dividends?

Updates (13/3/2012): Added clarification on tax liabilities on distribution/dividend declared by unit trust funds

For those who have invested in unit trust funds (either using cash or EPF), many of you would have received dividend vouchers/warrants from the trustees of the unit trust funds. These dividend income (both reinvestment & cash out) have to be declared as an income (filed under Dividend field of the Borang BE).

A typical dividend voucher contains information such as:

• Trustee company name
• Warrant/voucher number
• Payment date
• Year/period ended
• Taxable income
• Malaysian tax
• Single tier dividend (which does not need to declare as income) and etc.

If you are using e-Filing for income tax submission, this is how you can declare tax for the dividends that you received for unit trust investments: