Hikmat Academy has been running structured financial education courses in Kuala Lumpur since 2014. We are small by intention.
Our Story
Hikmat Academy was founded in 2014 by a group of practising financial professionals who noticed that the adults most in need of financial education — those in their forties and fifties with real assets and approaching retirement — were the adults least well served by what was available.
Most financial education in Malaysia was aimed at young adults beginning their careers, or at investment product holders already committed to a particular provider's view of the world. What was missing was a calm, independent place to read and think about the subject without a sales pitch in the room.
The name Hikmat is an Arabic word carried into Malay that means wisdom arrived at through study and reflection — not knowledge accumulated quickly, but understanding earned over time. That is what the academy tries to teach, and that is why it is the name we chose.
We remain small. A maximum of twelve participants per cohort is a considered limit, not a temporary constraint. It allows proper discussion and means that every participant's questions are answered with care.
To provide Malaysians in their forties, fifties, and sixties with an honest, thorough education in personal finance — one that respects their existing knowledge, is specific to Malaysian conditions, and has no interest in selling them anything.
11
Years Running
12
Max per Cohort
3
Programmes
Faculty
Lead Faculty — Investing & Portfolio
A licensed financial planner with nineteen years of practice across retail and institutional clients. Ahmad leads the twelve-week investing course and brings considerable experience of Malaysian capital markets to the curriculum.
Faculty — Retirement Planning
A chartered accountant who spent fifteen years advising individual clients on estate and retirement matters before moving into education. Siti leads the retirement reading seminars with particular attention to EPF, PRS, and late-life housing decisions.
Faculty — Legal & Estate Matters
A solicitor in private practice for twenty-two years with a focus on estate planning and property matters. Kemal conducts the estate planning and property workshops, drawing on direct experience of Malaysian probate and land law.
Standards
Every course is led by a faculty member who has practised in the field — not merely studied it. We do not engage academics without client-facing experience to teach practitioner subjects.
Course materials are reviewed each January against changes in Malaysian tax law, EPF policy, and SC regulations. Outdated material is corrected before the next cohort begins.
Participant names, contact details, and anything discussed in seminar sessions is held in strict confidence. We do not use participant information for marketing, and we do not share it with third parties.
Hikmat Academy does not accept referral fees, commission arrangements, or sponsorship from financial product providers. Our faculty are not permitted to recommend specific products in their teaching capacity.
All course materials are prepared in writing and provided to participants before each session. This standard ensures that class time is used for discussion rather than dictation, and that participants have something to refer to afterwards.
Each cohort completes a written evaluation at the end of the course. Feedback is reviewed by the faculty and used to improve subsequent cohorts. Patterns of dissatisfaction result in curriculum changes, not dismissal of the concern.
Our Approach
The adults who attend Hikmat Academy's courses are not beginners in any meaningful sense. They have managed households, navigated careers, made property decisions, raised children, and watched money move through their lives for thirty or forty years. What they often lack is a clear framework for the choices that lie ahead — the years between fifty and seventy that involve the most consequential financial decisions most people ever make.
The twelve-week investing course addresses this by beginning where Malaysian adults actually are: with a working understanding of EPF contributions, some accumulated savings, a property or two, and a set of questions about what to do next. The course covers asset classes, portfolio construction at the household level, the relevant tax and regulatory framework, and the particular challenges of investing with a retirement horizon rather than a career horizon.
The retirement reading seminar operates differently. It is a smaller, more confidential gathering in which each participant's own situation is the primary text. The faculty member guides the reading; participants contribute their own circumstances and questions. By the end of six sessions, each participant has a clearer written account of their own retirement position and what they intend to do about it.
The Saturday workshops offer something more targeted — a single morning's thorough examination of one practical matter. Estate planning under Malaysian law is different from estate planning anywhere else. Property in retirement raises questions that are specific to Malaysian housing tenure, family arrangements, and the expectations of the Malaysian social context. These workshops do not try to cover everything; they try to cover one thing well.
Hikmat Academy is based at 85, Jalan Sultan Ismail in Kuala Lumpur. All sessions are held in person. We believe that financial education of this kind requires a room, not a screen.
Contact us before enrolling. We are happy to spend a few minutes helping you decide which course, if any, is the right one for where you are now.
Get in Touch