i think the number is closer or even lesser than half, rather than 2/3. Reason is cos I suspect you are a saver and hence would be squirrelling away nuggets for golden age.

the 2 here is 2 x yearly expenditure. So say if every year I expected to spend 200K rm, then my portfolio should be able to generate 400K. (ie 200% of expenditure).
hence my buffer is 1 (or 100%).

Then again, I needed the buffer due to my age... when I fire'd, i was still slightly below 40 years old...

so for your case, if you are closer to 80 (a good age to assume for expiration), you may not need that much buffer...

This post has been edited by Wedchar2912: Dec 23 2024, 02:44 PM

2K is a bit tough to consider for FIRE... even if one choose move to rural area, away form klang valley.

but 20% of monthly salary maybe possible... especially if one is willing to live with leanFIRE budget and outside Klang Valley... cos using your example of 50K rm, that's 10K rm per month. decent spending power at setiawan... But for time being, cannot move out of klang valley yet for me, so this 20% is too low for me also.

Definitely yeah, at 55, 1x of your monthly salary or even your monthly expenditure is good enough. In fact, can even cut back a bit of one's working lifestyle expenditure as suddenly you realize some costs no longer exists or cut down tremendously.
Example using my case. Petrol cost drop from like 500 to 600rm per month to now around 100rm per month, save 200rm per month on toll, work clothing expenditures, save 120 from phone plan, no more eating out for lunch...
1 expense did appear. medical bill as previously was covered by firm. But I get ill a less frequently nowadays (stupid office aircon system must have a lot of germs).
(btw, no need to keep up with the jones too... so save up on luxury/jone "taxes" like getting latest iphone or get new car)

once upon a time, i thought I can survive with 2K rm.... not anymore...

but you are very right... each person is different and have different priorities/circumstances. I am sure 2K or like you said 1.2K is doable, as our country's minimum wage is still 1.5K rm. (soon to be 1.7K rm rite?).

somehow I feel using a bike as main transportation instead of a car is not that optimal in terms of risk/safety. especially if one can afford to own a car (cheap one or second hand is fine).

just in terms of safety and risk.

No lar... 30 years ago was 1994/5. Starting pay should be around 1K rm already for many... uni grad may even get 1.5K.

Nonetheless, yeah, 1 million ringgit was a lot of money back then... if at 55 have 1 million ringgit, one would feel very well off.
if I use chicken rice cost as multiplier (1.5rm in 1995 for a plate vs 8rm now), that is like having 5 million now.

yeah, there were practically no salary growth from 1995 to 2005... heck, even until 2010.

2005 fresh grad maybe get closer to 2K, but I won't be surprised if 1.5K is being offered by some firms.

2010 fresh grad at my former company was getting between 2 to 2.5K rm. (this I can 100% confirm cos I was a hiring manager and I had to write a long story and get my boss to support me in paying one of my hire 2.5K, even though HR told me the range was 2 to 2.5K rm).

I wonder how much a fresh grad can get on average nowadays?

it should be nowadays right?

pre-covid also I know banks in SG were offering very close to 4K as starting pay for uni grad.

This is a big surprise....

Hence it is very surprising he has a finance blog or finance youtube. Very surprising.

This HSBC also funny one... never check their own homework properly...
Malaysia need 1 usd to retire affluently when Singapore needs 1.4 usd...
and HK is 1.1 usd????

Does this even make sense? seriously?

Looks like it is time for gov to shout that affluent retirees in Malaysia need 4.2 million ringgit to retire!

Maybe HSBC is trying to get more people to migrate back to HK after so many of the Hong Konger left HK?
HK need 1.1 usd while MY need 1 usd.

somemore MY so big and one can choose Taiping or Kuantan to retire rite? cost there even cheaper somemore.

for fun this analysis:

His gross monthly looks to be around RM50–55K (assuming standard 11% EPF).

In Klang Valley terms, that’s already very good. In a normal corp, it would place him at mid- to senior-management level.

If we net off RM670K for cars and RM300K for watches, his net worth actually sits at 4.7M. Considering his fairly liberal spending (cars, personal lifestyle), that’s still impressive: he’s living well and still saving enough.

At mid-40s, if he works until 60, his net worth trajectory is very healthy. Around 5M now means passive income of around 25K pm, tax-free. His current spend is 30K pm, which he could easily trim down if needed.

This post has been edited by Wedchar2912: Sep 14 2025, 04:48 PM

well, my reference is large corps here... and I suspect I am being conservative already.

Can look up CEOs and C-suite salary in big firms in Malaysia via annual reports... its quite transparent but must dig for info.
(eg: Maybank's CEO earns like 200K to 300K pm )

then one can guess what mid level management make => hence my comment of mid to senior management.
(senior management is C-suite and some people include their one down).

junior management is typically what some would think of as a small department's manager. so those guys are wider in range... can range from 10 to 25K...

well, its cos of his spending/lifestyle... to claim to have 600K vehicle already can suspect he has at least a expensive hobby (excluding watches)... so lesser networth than what he could have.

This post has been edited by Wedchar2912: Sep 15 2025, 09:53 PM

Oh no lah, never worked for Maybank before… it’s just that they’re the behemoth local bank, so naturally I use them as a benchmark for what a big corporate employer in Malaysia looks like.

I’ve actually been out of the market for some years, so my numbers may be a bit dated: comp is probably even higher now. What I shared earlier is still ballpark accurate.

Maybe the difference is in how we define levels. To me:

Senior management = C-suite or those reporting directly to the CEO or another very senior exec (CFO, CTO, CIO, etc.). No way these guys are only pulling RM50K a month nowadays.
Mid-level = department heads with real authority, usually reporting to a division head (who’s senior mgmt).
Junior management = a wide range, but these days even a bank branch head often falls into this category.
And of course, salary bands overlap. quite normal.

This is a very large corp in the context of Malaysia. medium ones will be lower remuneration....

On the EPF side, we already have around 90K active millionaire members. That’s over 1% of all active members. I think 1% is already a pretty decent ratio, no? even if 2%, because this is stats, I think the salary band is still consistent.

curious.... the properties meant for rental... isn't the yield a bit low? or you also aim for capital appreciations here?
like house 4: its only a yield of lesser than 5%...

maybe this is why some here got confused... thinking all CEOs and all C-suite and all mid-management are paid the same...

wah unker... who annoyed you so much until you post such "reminder"....

I myself also wonders if this process works or not.... I can imagine all those financial gurus and influencers who claim this and that.... wonder why no one use process to kacau them....

eitherway, this is just a public forum Unker... in one ear... out the other lor...

edit: I am not from the future... despite the numbers... lol

This post has been edited by Wedchar2912: Oct 8 2025, 12:05 PM

only protected if the gov of the day deemed the whistleblower to be working for the gov....

next gov, no idea man...

which industry are you refering to? locale? size and type corp?
I feel its a bit low for real HOD posts if its in KL and a large mnc like corp