Anyway, coming back to salary, depending on what you seek. At this age, I would not have enough pension funds because I didn't start off in Aussie from graduation. I need to make sure I want to have the 15 years of pension fund already sitting in Aussie's Super for the dividend in order to make sure my retirement is okay.

I would think the current political instability in Msia is a great motivator for many right now. Especially those who do not want to be caught up in all the aftermath - with people losing hope in the current gov's capabilities or fearing the over abuse of power of the previous gov. Also, if one does manage to transfer the role with minimum salary loss - the currency conversion would definitely be a great bonus (minus the high taxes). That is a great motivator for me + much more affordable electronics here for my gaming needs.

Coronavirus lah.
hahaha, risk to stay and risk to travel

Does Aus pension apply to non-gov jobs?

A few colleagues were worried that I could possibly be infected with Cvid-19 when I returned from Msia two weeks ago. So far so good..

Thanks for the info Gary, hopefully this doesn't get changed too much when I reach that age. Still pretty far away and things could change. Though it does feel pretty limiting to have assets up to only $840k, as that seems to discourage people from building up additional financial security. I guess if people are doing pretty well they just have to put other assets in their kids' name or shift the money into overseas banks huh.

Since I only started working here 3 years ago my super is probably going to be a lot less compared to others who have worked here since early 20s. Might never have to worry about reaching that A$1.6m cap. Mine is easily a few grand after 3 years - even if I calculated it to be 15k every 10 years, it'll be like 45k after 30 years?  That $1.6m would be more feasible if I was adopted as Bloomberg's godson (perhaps toyboy, lol) or hit the lotto.

Also I don't fancy having a bigger house, so much more to clean and maintain. I'll worry about a bigger house when there are kids to consider, but having a nice small -> average sized house with a manageable backyard is more than sufficient. Especially with all that bloody lawn maintenance.

Except that bit where you get some tax benefit yearly....

There is a cap or 25k for the concessionary contribution....a 19% tax relief is significant....if you put the whole 25k, 19% is 4750, basically you get extra 4750 in your super albeit locked up till you are 60....I would do it.....

Not sure if non concessional contributions is worth it, since the returns from supers aren't guaranteed and most not very attractive, unlike EPF here....

Then choosing the right super becomes vital....some are really crap....

Thank you for the good discussions in this thread, gents,...

According to my wife, the toilet paper rolls sold out too in Coles and Woolies here. I think the thing here is the toilets in Aus don't have water taps and bidets inside. That's why the urgency with toilet-papers.

My family installed toilet-seat bidets to manage this. Panasonic-brand is quite good. So, can still survive without toilet-papers.

Your job is pretty comfy anyway, might as well just go with it while they're still happy to have you. Isn't it always better to wait for a redundancy package?

Family in Brisbane are happy to get the redundancy package and find another job rather than leave the job if they can help it.

Probably mixed news for you as you may get to work for a bit more before getting the redundancy package - good luck to you either way.

I would take you up on that offer, but neither of us eat lobsters - wife doesn't enjoy em much and I have several allergies with crustaceans & alcohol being some of it. Swelling lips & itchy throat/ears are no fun when I eat prawns/crabs or lobsters, thus I avoid them as much as possible. It was pretty tough having a dad who loved seafood and used to run a live-on-board diving business.

I'm hoping for some yum cha/dim sum promotions as I've heard there's been a severe lack of business for these shops. Also, my usual question to friends - if I do not drink tea (water, for instance) at the yum cha shop, do we still call it yum cha?

Tq bro Gary,...

On my side, my investments have not dipped below water at this moment, but of course, nobody can tell what will happen in future ! As of my checking a moment ago as I write this, I am 30.22% up ! Checked again - 30.07% up ! Looks like it keeps dropping,...

But this is still higher compared against 25.10.2019 last year, when I was at 28.73% up. I printed out that portfolio page before I divested one of my ctr's in the SGX, namely First REIT.

I printed out one last week, but I can't find where it is now,... well, this is how I track my equities performance in the SGX, retail tranche.

I am of the opinion that if I have practised proper and good portfolio practice (things like cutting loss early, letting profits run, and logical diversification), I should not worry now, and I should continue to hold to reap whatever dividends that I can get even if those dividends drop. If this meltdown goes deep enough, I will be able to see if my strategy is sound !

Your 15%/yr returns for the last few years - I'm afraid if you have sold and realized those profits, then I would say they are profits. if, say, these were paper profits but you were in the blue always, it may not be justifiable to say they are profits yet.

On retirement, I do my own business/practice. Except for the occasional pursuits by some clients, I am quite comfortable doing this till my last days. I would regret sitting home and looking at my portfolio only. For myself, in terms of retirement, the secret is to select cases which are NOT urgent. And to select clients who are not pushy.

Tq bro,...

On my side, I don't really depend too much on govt's pension schemes. I depend more on my own self-built safety net, but probably that's because of our individual circumstances. I do have quite a huge amt in my EPF, but I have always viewed any instrument in the RM has a higher tendency to lose out in the long run because of the weak currency. Hence, I have forgotten abt my EPF.

On yr international shares, even if it has fallen by abt 12.5%, if you are still in the black, I believed it is still okay. Yr function would then be to see how 'strong' your portfolio is in these times of meltdown.

Generally, if one is keen on retirement, I'm afraid he needs to figure out how to continue generating survival income WITHOUT falling-back on employment income.

A threshold needs to be crossed, no need to be a billionaire but at least a threshold needs to be crossed, depending on one's needs.

But yr plans are sound, and yr circumstances are strong,... you can postpone retirement if you wished to,... a great job is always there for you. This is very safe, compared against my friends in many countries today who are anxious abt redundancy.

When you say you are still okay as you have quite a lot of buffer built-in for your retirement, do you mean to say that the passive cashflow that you will be generating from your nestegg is enough for retirement, or do you mean to say that you can safely withdraw a certain amt every year from the nestegg, and it will last you for a period beyond your estimated lifespan ?

Can't wait to eventually build passive income similar to the ones you guys talk about. Great motivation to keep growing and improving financially. I'm placing a bit more cash into Selfwealth in preparation to buy some ETFs as I continue to monitor the drop in price.

That's a lot of money to support family - I am expecting to support my mother only in the future as my father is doing quite well. Only one brother in KL and he's doing alright too - as long as Msia doesn't go down any major changes soon & the Covid-19 is affecting his income as he works for Airasia. Hoping to eventually bring my mother over but that's a lot of money to collect. Effectively spending as much money for down payment of a property to get the parent(s) visa.

The cost of living is KL isn't cheap either, it feels more affordable here in Aus. Might be the same case if it's in the smaller cities or towns outside of the major hubs. Probably harder to tell if one doesn't go back to Msia often enough to feel it..

Tq Gary for your replies,... you should be comfortable with that amt in KL if you watch your spendings,... I think,... but every individual's circumstances is different.

you should consider the option of naturalising in Oz, and use MM2H to stay in Msia....