bro - if U are your only reason...
U dont have a BIG ENOUGH REASON to be a multi-millionaire (unless U born with a silver/platinum spoon)
U need something bigger than self.

sorry ar - just pointing out the obvious

a. some folks die die MUST change car every 5 years else.. die
even if go into slavery... i mean debts

b. some folks die die MUST eat at 5 star restaurants IN hotels every week at least
even if they make ONLY $8K net /mth

c. some folks die die dont want to die in slavery
AND finds beauty in simplicity + serving a greater cause / burning desire bigger than self
AND likes the freedom of choice

who U think is the stupid one?
depends on yr lifeSTYLE or LIFEstyle "indoctrination" & personal reality right?
no right/wrong - just that every choice has it's payoff and cost.

True enough, but if you don't have kids, it can be your nephew or niece

Actually everyone should do everything once. Once you eat in a 5-star restaurant, you realize that every one of them is a glorified mamak stall lol. I swear if you come to my house for CNY you get better service (and better quality food) than them lol

Yeah kinda true, saving moderately to buy ur needs instead of your wants is good enough for me..
like no Milk tea, no Starbucks etc.

all in all it comes down to perseverance, if you have that strength to go on, especially when you see the people around you doing otherwise..

Do you guy have any tips ad advise to do that? and endure?

bro - "the system" NEEDS slaves like those lar - hard coded or boolean "variables"
"fresh meat for the grinder" kind of thing needed

The crazy ones that prefer to explore and build something worthwhile - even if it's small compared to the Gates Foundation, is often looked on as crazed
Anyhow, crazy ppl dont give a dang what other ppl think of them - thus they dance to their own tunes
while the slaves.. i mean.. "others" live lives as per how it's marketed via ads/media/etc.

note - i had a fellow forumer state to me:
You are a waste of resources, aiming to retire before 55 (those days max in MY is 55 mar) instead of contributing to the economy.

My.. how shallow his IQ was - retire = no contribution?
his term of retirement = death ka?
retire = not work for $.
can't work for pleasure or purpose? no? oh.. really?

oops.. sorry - reminiscing old funny arguments / discussions... price of getting old & wistful

for the heck of the experience, yes, i agree on splurges on/off depending on mood/occasion lar
BUT
die die every 5 years (cars) or week (makan) when one is not a millionaire (RM lar - bleeding cars & hotels are relatively high cost ya know)?
i know real life people like that leh - up to debts to their eyeball AND:
a. must "upgrade" to that new Civic (from a "lousy" Wira),
b. buy a BMW although can afford to rent a room only in KL (gross salary $7K & no investments)
c. experience fine dining with cigar+wine weekly (snob appeal?) in 4 to 5 star restaurants in hotels coz he's a DOCTOR and he is EXPECTED to do so (earning RM8K+ pm gross only with family & kids to provide for, not like $40K+pm)

then again maybe their definition of "debts up to eyeballs" isn't the same as mine lar (always having credit card owed + 1 to 3 pay cheques away from disaster)
sorry... old fart rambling

maybe he has....
Financial Freedom
https://secure.fundsupermart.com/main/resea...SJBlog_20140707

haha, sounds scary but that's reality :C

wodenus,

1) The annual expense of Saver C is only 12K per year. With interest rate of 10%, he only need 120K worth of asset. Saver C will only need to work for 5 years. Hence, he will retire at 25 years old. In the worst case, he will retire at 30 years. Meanwhile, all other 30 years old still work like slave...

People with money has THE FREEDOM to stop working whenever that they want.

2) Or, after 10 years, with 360K of asset earning 36K per year, he choose to spend 4K per month and do not save his salary. He can do it and grow his asset at the same time. He can do it and still retire comfortably.

People with money has THE FREEDOM to spend and grow their asset at the same time.

Dreamer

This post has been edited by dreamer101: Jul 17 2014, 02:43 AM

Futhermore I think Guy B is those fama yg support god car and asset downpayment for their children.

Guy A is those fama yg saving cukup cukup utk retirement ajer.

I dunno, effect of compounding extra 1k per month for 30+ years are scary man, even at the rate of 6% annually you will get 1million. Maybe it doesnt worth much but still can afford to cover a lot of things.

I knoe exactly 1 guy like this. Not married and no kids.

But since its like 10x more its save 30k and spend 10k.

So still life is all good. Lucky niece n nephew though.

1 mill at FV bah. Plus that time you old de. And the fact that your wife gave her '1st time' to the other guy de.

I want to drive home the point are we saving up/chasing wealth to address our social/lifestyle/achievement inadequacy?

TBH set aside monthly saving by percentage. You have done your part and let god decide the rest. Enjoy your life and youth (whatever that's left) while you can. I've seen my average friends suffer when their life all squandered in the name of wealth building.

Ask these questions:
1. What you want to do with the money really? For yourself.

2. And if for others, what can you do that can bring joy and benefit for them right now(and not necessary cost money)? As opposed to building the wealth for them in the future?

bah... what's real and what's hypothetical?

A truer scenario would be both Saver A & B saves 10% of their wages. In other words, they both spend 90% of their wages.

Saver A continues to spend 90% (or maybe lower it to 75%-80%) of his wages through out his life. While Saver B increases his spending, but at the same time, increase his savings from 10% to 75%.

How is this possible? You figure it out...

This post has been edited by j.passing.by: Jul 17 2014, 02:30 PM

Save money till you gain financial independance!

This post has been edited by woonsc: Jul 17 2014, 02:37 PM

Save up to what you need in case of emergencies, invest the rest!

Interesting discussion. This is my own experience and thought. If say saving from 8k life style to 5k, this is worth it because saving 3k/month is a big deal and will give an impact to retirement. Furthermore, living with 5k lifestyle is really not hard at all. In term of percentage, 8k to 5k is only 37.5% reduction.

However, if say today living already a 3k lifestyle, and die die (borrowing words from Mr. Wong :-) ) want to save more and cut to 2.5k or 2k lifestyle, I think not worth it. That rm500-1k saving at that level means a lot of sacrifices need to be done, and in the end the impact in retirement may not cope up with the damage/loss done in young age. In contrast, I rather work harder or smarter (like taking up part-time job, getting promotion, doing home tuition etc) to make up the additional rm500-1k for saving, while maintain a livable, more comfortable lifestyle at 3k.

Just my 2 cents.

This post has been edited by velo: Jul 17 2014, 05:07 PM

Yup. I have the same 2 cents as yours.

The thing is that I see Wong Sifu's "die die" opinion as some people tends to spend too much, with so little savings such that any unexpected expenditure will tip them over, had to resort to personal loans to tie them over the unexpected event.

Using the same figures you mentioned above, this is one of a likely scenario.

A has a 3k lifestyle. His wages is 3.5k at the beginning of his career. Meaning he's spending 86% of his wages.

He got older and earning more... still spending 86% of his wages. So he spend 8k/month while his wages is now 9.2k as he is now in his fifties. As you said, he can chopped it down to 5k... but did not.

Let's add in another element (as this is Personal Financial thread), he bought a house in his mid thirties, and his salary is somewhere around 4k to 5k.

Another person, B has the same wages and situation as A. But person B put more into his savings with each salary promotion/increment. Person B also adds some to his monthly budget, so he is also not spending less than 3k, but he's spending not as much as A.

Person B has more savings as down-payment on his house, takes a smaller housing loan, and also put more into the monthly installment for a shorter loan than Person A.

At their fifties, A is still paying his housing loan, while B has fully paid his. Even if B has not save much, maybe just saving as much as A, since B was paying a bigger monthly installment; but from then onwards B will eventually has more than A when they reached retirement.

1) B pay less interest on the housing loan than A.

2) B has no debts in his early fifties, no more installments to pay. So his non-discretionary monthly expenses is lower... and has more discretionary income than A.

Just my 2 cents.

--------------------

Over saving, under saving would not get one into trouble. His lifestyle... his choice. Over spending... is the thing to watch out.

Spending too close to the income is also risky... any unexpected expenditure could make one edgy... like buying a car so closed to the budget that allows no savings or little savings to handle an accident... some will rage, hitting the bonnet of the other car with a steering rod.

This post has been edited by j.passing.by: Jul 17 2014, 07:02 PM

Folks,

It is VERY SIMPLE.

LBYM -> Live Below Your Mean. Save 10% to 15% of your gross income so that you can SUSTAIN your current lifestyle.

Dreamer

Correct! Live below Your Mean is the principle here. But I would add a bit more so to accelerate the ultimate goal of financial freedom. That is while one's income increases over time, say at an average rate of 20% per year, one need to control lifestyle expenditure increase much below the 20% rate, preferably 5-7% (just to keep up with inflation, or very mild upgrade once every 3-5 years).

That way, the initial saving of 10% to 15% can be dramatically boosted to over 50% over time, and most importantly, without downgrade in lifestyle.

The hardest part here is how to maintain 20% income increase per year. Frankly i don't think a salaried man can sustain that, unless he knows how to make his money works for him too through investment.

This post has been edited by velo: Jul 17 2014, 11:11 PM

How to be financially free? Simple. Make smart decisions. Save 10-20% of income when starting out. If starting salary is RM2K then save RM200-RM400 a month. Adjust expenditure within the RM1600-RM1800.

After 5 years let's say salary has increased to RM4000 then savings should increase to 30% to 40% i.e. RM1.2K to RM1.6K which leaves disposable income to RM2.4K to RM2.8K which is a nice amount.

In another 5 years let's say income has increased to RM8K then savings can be increased to 50%@RM4K pm with a disposable income of RM4K.


If a person starts work at the age of 23, by 33 you will have a small nest egg to buy a medium size apartment.

Of course there are many factors that may derail this plan especially bad decisions like marrying an unsuitable partner or having kids without family planning. Good decisions reduces risk.

This post has been edited by cynthusc: Jul 18 2014, 05:59 AM