In Aust, with the aged-pension as a safety net, money is not much of an issue usually after retirement. The most important thing in Aust is you must own your own home and the old-aged pension should be enough for a very modest lifestyle.

It is in Msia where running out of money is a real possibility as there is no safety net to fall back on.That is why i want to keep as big a buffer as i can before i retire. My wife also has her own retirement money (as she worked until 50) but the last thing i want to do is ask her for money if my retirement funds run low. We keep our finances quite separate and i would estimate she probably has about 70-75% of my net worth.

This post has been edited by Garysydney: Oct 22 2019, 05:54 PM

Thank you for sharing.

My wife and i have no kids so it is much easier for me to retire earlier as we don't have to help children financially so this is my advantage (in retiring earlier) over those couples with children. My work has always been quite cushy but recently, the workload has increased quite a bit. Even so, my job is still very easy - it is just that i am so used to working only 1-2 hours (productively) per day that having to work 3 or more hours a day now is becoming a strain for me. The only thing i will miss most will be all the fringe benefits that comes with my job.

This post has been edited by Garysydney: Oct 25 2019, 04:18 PM

A friend of mine brought some bak kwa in from KL and Immigration confiscated it. However, a Singaporean friend of mine brought some in (bought in Spore and packed with ingredients written on a sticker) and they allowed that in.

Looks like Singaporean bak kwa is ok but Msian bak kwa is a no-no.

With dried scallop, i usually buy from Chinatown (Sydney) as they are of better quality - i prefer them bigger. Dried mushroom is definitely a no-no as Customs is always looking for insects inside the mushrooms (birds nest and cordycep are also a no-no). I think i brought anchovies in before but i need my wife to confirm.

I have been going back to Kl quite frequently the last 10 mths and customs is definitely a lot friendlier (not so strict). I brought in a lot of cookies (for CNY) 2 days ago and they didn't even bother to check (at Sydney airport) - just asked me what i have got and let me through. It is also probably because they see my wife as a retiree.

Sydney has one that has been selling bak kwa for at least 20 years now - it is on the ground floor of the Prince Center Chinatown. They are only open on certain days.

I think they are quite pricey - that is why their business don't open everyday. About 20 years ago when they first opened, their business were good but nowadays people don't yearn so much for bak kwa as people travel a lot more than before so people prefer to eat them when they are in Msia/Spore where it is much cheaper.

Unless you have health insurance extras which covers dental and eye, why would you want to do your dental checkup and glasses in Aust? I get a dental checkup in Sydney (fluoride treatment and cleaning) every 8-10 mths before which costs me A$240 at my workplace - i do this exact thing in Bangsar Baru (KL) where i stay for rm140. Crazy!! My dentist (late thirties in age) in Bangsar graduated from Adelaide.

High labour costs in Aust will kill this country!! Not only is Aust uncompetitive (in costs), with current ecological change, we may be starting to see a very bleak future for future generations.

Talking about dentists, i had a fellow Uni mate who graduated with me in 1983. He is originally from Penang and has 3 surgeries (in different suburbs). He has so many properties in Sydney (around the Bexley area) - i estimate he is probably worth about A$9mil. I don't think he came from a rich family. He is so busy and he even works on Sundays. He used to tell us if we go to him, he will maximise our claims (on our private health insurance) and we won't need to pay a cent.

Due to his success in his career, he even forced his kids to study Dentistry - he paid for them as full-fee students (his kids marks were a little off the cutoff point). You can imagine how good the money must be for the father to be willing to pay full-fee. Also, they live in Sydney and the kids got the offers in Adelaide Uni so the kids got to rent a place in Adelaide!

This post has been edited by Garysydney: Jan 25 2020, 04:33 AM

Hello my young friend, how is your new place?

I hope the air pollution in Sydney is not getting onto you. I take an hour walk everyday (at work) down to Glebe Point Bay and i sometimes have to skip (recently) because of the extreme heat. I have been doing these walks for nearly 10 years now and this year i have to skip quite a few days and i suspect the water restrictions will get worse as the year progresses.

This post has been edited by Garysydney: Jan 29 2020, 07:52 AM

Having kids in Aust can get very expensive - you always hear about parents talking about childcare costs and how much their kids are costing them. Government in Aust wants couple to both be working and this can create a very stressful life esp if there are children involved (even more so if you don't have grandparents to help out).

This post has been edited by Garysydney: Jan 30 2020, 09:35 AM

From what you have written, you sound pretty wealthy.

Money can solve a lot of problems in life!! If we are lucky in life to find ourselves in a favourable financial position, we should be grateful for it.

I know quite a few new migrants in Sydney who are struggling (financially) and have been doing so for quite some time now. I try helping them but there is only so much one can do.

This post has been edited by Garysydney: Jan 30 2020, 09:48 AM

Wives?? I hope that is a typo because they can be very expensive

Nice of you to share your story.

I know a lot of friends in Sydney who have divorced. Most of them lost a lot of money after the divorce. My eldest brother (with 5 kids in Aust) also got divorced and his wife cleaned him out (financially). He migrated as a business migrant (with his family) and brought over A$2.9mil in 1990. He was so rich then and everyone respected him (esp in KL). His assets were all in Sydney as he had great faith in Aust. His wife was a housewife when they over because she never went to school.
The marriage killed him financially (as he kept a lot of the assets under his children's name and his children will not give him the money back after the divorce). He sank into deep depression and about 8 years back, the children kicked him out of the house he bought (house under children's names) in Hurstville. He died very early - last May from depression (caused by his marriage breakdown). We all expected him to live at least another 10-15 years as he was still very young when he died. He would have lived a much longer life had he not migrated - he used to live in a huge bungalow in Bukit Bandaraya with about 8 rooms and a badminton court in front of his house. I used to play badminton with my friends in his house in my early days.

This post has been edited by Garysydney: Jan 31 2020, 07:32 AM

In Aust, once you have put the assets under your children's names (children above 18 yrs old), it is considered their money. A lot of Asians put assets under their children's name in Aust because they don't want to pay tax.

The divorce laws in Aust is heavily skewed towards the female gender (esp if you have children). A lot of divorced men are very bitter about the Family Law court because they felt that a lot of judgments that were handed down were very heavily skewed towards giving women a higher proportion of the assets.

Most females will opt to have their divorce proceedings in Aust because they will get a higher proportion of the distribution.

Look at the classic case of Tan Sri Khoo Kay Peng - wife wants divorce proceedings in London while the Tan Sri wants it in Malaysia. Very obvious why each one chooses a different country, isn't it?

When you get older like me, you will slowly understand why we do things differently in life compared to the younger generation.

The older the ginger, the hotter it gets.

What you have written, most people in Msia (both genders) will not disagree with you.

My group of retiree friends (all ex-Malaysian aged in their 60s and 70s) who have lived in Aust for more than 30 years all used to think like that when we first migrated to Aust. Now having lived here for so long, their wives have all changed and are now the 'bosses' of the family - the men here have all become pussies. The Aust divorce laws are so skewed and biased towards the female that the average male feels so hard done by after a divorce!!

Sorry - got distracted this morning as the Dow has fallen more than 500 points (market still open now).

In Aust, the laws are now heavily biased against men (in all aspects of life).

In employment, most govt-related departments (local councils, state and federal govts) have some kind of quota for women (at least 40-45% of senior positions nust be women) in managerial (senior) and executive positions - this means that you must employ women even though they may not be the best candidate for the position but because there are women. This is LAW. Where i work, in the last couple of years, all senior positions are mostly filled with females because of this quota. If you have a company with a turnover of more than A$10mil, you are required to show (by law) what steps your company is taking to ensure equal women participation, otherwise you risk a heavy fine!! Nowhere else in this world this kind of law exists for women empowerment except Aust.

I want to carry on but i have a meeting to attend. Maybe i will carry on one day when the opportunity comes by again.

Just finished my meeting. My workload has tripled this year but i still get 3-4 hours a day at work surfing the web - you can imagine how cushy my job is. No wonder i am still working even though i had planned to retire last year.

I have a very good friend who is the COO at a major food importation company (similar in size to Hong's Australia) and he says that he is forced (by the law) to employ females just to satisfy the govt quota. A lot of times the jobs are labour-intensive but he has no choice and he was telling all our retiree friends that eventually his company will be about 65% females because his admin staff are all mostly females.

I work for the largest University in Aust and our admin staff is 69% females yet they are still enforcing this 40-45% (minimum) quota for female senior staff.

This post has been edited by Garysydney: Feb 3 2020, 09:59 AM

I cannot see anything changing in Msia. Realistically who will want to give up all the privileges that you have become so accustomed to for so many years?

Like here in Aust, no govt will dare remove (or water down) the old-aged pension because we are so used to it. The old-aged pension has been around for generations and no govt will dare remove it. Future govts may increase the age for eligibility but that is all they will do.

Having said all that, in Aust, being Chinese (and young), you still have hope for your future generations (if you plan to have any) .

This post has been edited by Garysydney: Feb 4 2020, 12:20 PM