Pretty detailed. Ha.

I guess the important thing is how many % of your monthly income is your real saving.

Aim for at least 30%, my 2 cents.

My income in not fixed. Sometimes I earn 100K per month sometimes only 8K. On average about 20-25K per month.

Very impressive.

In that case, % saving on yearly basis. That will give you some idea on where you are on wealth accumulation & growth.

P/S Any vacancy I can apply? Ha.

Having a kid myself, i hope you put aside some cash for her education/degree.

Myself I'm saving right now to the point when she's 18, I'll have about 1M in cash ready for her education needs. I have a feeling this will not be sufficient to cover everything and would need to be supplemented by some extra money lying around. But atleast I have a base to work with.

The savings partly comes from an insurance investment plan (a form of forced saving which literally gives crap returns), and a property allocated for this use, to be sold when the cash is needed.

This post has been edited by MeToo: Jul 25 2018, 10:34 AM

monthly fixed expenditure

Housing loan - 1300
Insurance - 250

monthly variable expenditure
Petrol - Claim company
F&B - Claim Company
Entertainment ~ 100
Own Food ~ 250
Mobile & Internet - Claim Company
Misc & general ~ 200
Elec & water ~ 100

Ya I saw that and gave up.

So many tried to point this out to him, but his ignorance knows no bounds.

Personally I think people with 5k in bank worry less about inflation affecting their savings compared to those with 500k in the bank. I'm pretty sure I never thought about inflation when i first entered the job market. Now.. I monitor this and that, how to balance my portfolio, how to squeeze every single extra basis point of profit from my investment etc.. sigh

Hahaha...already employing 2 permanent employees. You will need a certain professional degree. If per annum, savings is not much at approx 3K per month if I include my emergency fund. Only abt 15%. But I consider my properties a form of investment. Also I don't intend to retire....will probably work until I can't because not working will bore me to death.

That's quite a lot of holidays considering there's only 2 of you?

How do you justify yourself spending so much on holidays?

I don't intend to pay for her full education. I will only subsidise 30%. The rest she has to earn herself either through scholarships or jobs which is what I did when I studied. Not gonna spend 1 million on education. If she can't do well enough in her studies to make it on her own...then maybe tertiary ediucation is not for her.

I may sound harsh but we are very close and she understands that. That is why she has been saving her own money for years.

Holidays are educational. She learns a lot from visiting different countries, museums, heritage and historical sites, mixing with the locals, learning to communicate and travel. Working on her social skills. My daughter at 16 can navigate many countries on her own as we do research and learn the basic language of each country before travelling.

Applaud your mindset, and kudos to you and your daughter as you have already outline it to her. Well planned.

Personally my choice is that I will subsidize their whole studies, but whatever that they earn through scholarships and awards (I will pass it on to them, e.g if they have sponsored tuition fees, the money for that will be given to them - under supervision ofc but its theirs). They can use it to treat themselves (with control) or use the money to start their business whatever, its theirs. If I tell them this concept early enough, they might study even harder, given that there's monetary benefit at the end of it.

My motto is just give my daughter s little help but she has to want it herself. She has to decide what kind of life she wants. If she is happy living in a small apartment driving a small car that is up to her and I will not judge nor interfere. But one thing is clear she must fend for herself and don't expect handouts from me except for occasional presents and meals. She is already lucky than most. She does not have to buy a house and will inherit my car. So her job is to get herself educated and to make a living.

Like you say, it's preference.

It's ok to follow the CPI % as your only inflation indicator.

Any asset will also depreciates and those that requires upkeep will always be a financial liability. As long as it generates incomes, cost is something I'm willingly to trade off.

House is a need when you have a family.

It's an open forum right? Why couldn't me, questioning his spending habit while it's ok for him to condemn people buying new car? It seems like you are a big fan of him

Good job on your investments, 1k a day x 365 = 365,000 a year

My view,
If 1M is not enough for the education cost, then might as well drop the idea.

Kids need to learn how to gather education fund themselves, it is process of growing up.
If the kid indeed brilliant in study, there are various scholarship and channels to fund the education nowadays, may not need as much as that.

I am not a fan of "using money to push the kid education" theory.
In fact, it may actually spoil the kid, especially if the kid is just ordinary or lesser than ordinary.

Nowadays, getting a ordinary degree is no longer a career path guaranteed, which in return may "trap" themselves in career path.

In fact, nowadays, many non-degree holder are thriving better than ordinary degree holders.
Kid need to go along their interest and exhibit their own strength and constant learning.

Industries are changing fast nowadays, now we are also talking about financial sector total revamp, HK already comes out with virtual banking, whereby the bank has no physical branch to serve customer anymore, but only through online channel. So previous ordinary banker also need to know how online banking works nowadays.

Those thrive or success in their career, generally are not because of their degree, but constantly learning and improve themselves instead of due to previously throwing money at ordinary education.

Just my personal opinion.

This is very close to my views. If my daughter can only get one or two As and does not qualify for scholarships then I will just ask her to do a professional qualification like Diploma in Accounting or Business or a technical qualification and to start working. Clearly if she is not capable of scoring the necessary As, she does not have the aptitude for tertiary studies.

In the last two years I have fired no less than 10 graduates. The main problem: They have no interest in the profession. They are forced to study it. Because of that they are not committed. They are merely sitting in the office and waiting for the time to pass and doing substandard work. But they don't have to worry because their Mamas and Papas will give them pocket money. Some drive better cars than me. Some have credit cards paid by their parents. Some have never taken a bus. After two months they leave because they hate what they are doing and they can afford to rely on their parents for their livelihoods. Hopefully they find their way.

Lets address this.

1. If your kid manages to get accepted into Harvard, but were unable to secure any scholarship. Would you tell them, sorry life sucks settled with UM instead? Perhaps some might, but I'm of the opinion i shall give her the chance.

2. You are right, an ordinary degree is no longer a guaranteed career path. But without a degree, statistically is even worse, do you agree?

3. Non degree holder is thriving better then ordinary degree holder. Statistic disagree with you on this. Sure we all heard of the rags to riches story, "mr XYZ who managed to be a millionaire with just his SPM". What are the percentaged of these people making it? Did you hear of the other 99% which is currently in the B40 range cause they only have a SPM?

4. Industry is fast changing etc etc, sure everything is fast changing. Are you trying to say that those without a degree will adapt better then those with higher education? If there is any relation, i would say uneducated ones are the ones being left behind.

Infact you see fresh grads in LYN complaining that they are getting RM3k a month as starting salary, do you want your children to go thru this? Cause I know that if you have a decent education (i.e. ivy league uni) you start off at a much higher level and would be better positioned to have a fast track thru your career. Ofcourse there is no "guarantees" in life, but in general those who are better equiped with the right tools does a better job than those that starts with nothing.

Let me leave you with this. It might not be right, or morally acceptable, but today's capitalistic world is harsh

Actually none of your complaints deal with whether these kids have a degree/education.

its more a matter of attitude. Attidude does not differentiate between poor or rich. Its inherent in that person, and how his environment molds him.

There is no guarantee a poor guy with no degree is more hardworking then a rich guy with a prestigious degree. It might be the other way around.

SO pls, to compare apple to apple.

If there is 2 guy, A & B. Both are hardworking, smart, pro-active, responsible etc etc etc. All things being equal. But, one only have an SPM while the other guy is a Cambridge grad. Who do you think has a better head start and would likely be able to climb higher in life?

I actually do not understand why people tend to think.

Poor kid = Street smart, innovative, go getter, hardworking, <insert any good quality>

Rich kid = Dumb, lazy, sloth, only relying on parents etc etc

I really dont see how this kind of stereotype comes about. For all we know. the rich guy might be the one with all the good qualities while the poor kid has all the bad qualities.

I personally have some very rich friends, I'm talkign private jets kinda rich. And they are not rich lazy snobs that everyone assume them to be, but maybe people tend to have that kinda perception cause they are not close to these people... and i dont blame them cause they do not easily allow people to enter their inner circle of friends..

This post has been edited by MeToo: Jul 25 2018, 11:36 AM

First of all...I am comparing apple to apple. They are all graduates. Regardless of which university they come from. Many come from UK universities where their parents have paid for their education in total. Many have repeated their studies after failing one year or more.

Parents drove these kids to take these degrees not because they are interested but because that is what their parents want. A child with a degree. If my daughter wants to be a doctor and has the ability to study and get the necessary grades to achieve her dream then she will definitely find a way. But if she gets mediocre results I am not gonna spend 1 million just to put a piece of paper in her hands. That just means that is not for her. She is bound for other things in life. Simple as that.

BTW if my daughter gets accepted into Harvard, she won't need my money. She will definitely get a scholarship.