5 minutes of Excel

can share?

Same age, but saving far lesser. Figuring how to be FI as well.

maybe for a start can try to figure out what is the minimum you need to be FI,...if that is your ultimate goal.
then work on how to later?

Finished reading all the posts under this thread. Amazing sharing and very inspiring life stories.

Have just started my journey towards FIRE few years back.

Savings close to 50-70% of net salary. Commitment is quite high for 2 kids and I am the sole breadwinner in the family.

I am sold with the idea of having option to work or not to work after reaching FI.

I will probably not RE but doing some other low stress part time or volunteer work to contribute to society.

Wish to hear tips and advice here

70% including EPF?
very frugal, you can retire in a few years time.. keep it up..

Nice bro and welcome.

Keep on sharing your journey, i.e targets, challenges, achievements etc. Much appreciated.

Thank you to everyone who have shared your stories and journeys. I have learnt quite a fair bit reading through all 61 pages here.

My family and I are fairly aggressive pursuers of FI.

I have multiple financial objectives throughout my life. As I achieve each objective, I reevaluate whether I want to push to the next objective aggressively or take an easier, more laid back approach.

Please allow me to share my journey so far. Dual income household, working in Hong Kong, one toddler and another on the way. I am 38 this year, better half is 37.

1) Stage One (basic FI - Malaysian standards)

Parameters:

i) A fully paid up home.
ii) RM5 million in assets producing approximately 3% per annum (passive income of RM150K per annum)

[ACHIEVED]

2) Stage Two (good level of FI - Malaysian standards)

Parameters:

i) A fully paid up home
ii) Money set aside for 2 children's education for entire life, under conditions that studying in Asia, Australia or UK, and not pursuing a medical degree.
iii) RM10 million in assets producing 3% passive income per annum

[not achieved, hoping to achieve by age 45, if we stay in current jobs and have minimal progression upwards]

3) Stage Three (basic FI - any developed country)

i) Fully paid up Malaysian home.
ii) Money set aside for 2 children's education for entire life, under conditions that they will be studying in Asia, Australia or UK, and not pursuing a medical degree.
iii) USD5 million in assets producing 3% income per annum (USD150K / RM600K per annum at 1USD : 4MYR).

[not achieved, hoping to achieve by age 50, if we stay in and have good progression in our current jobs]

4) Stage Four (good level of FI - developed country level)

i) Fully paid up Malaysian home.
ii) Money set aside for 2 children's education for entire life, under conditions that they will be studying in Asia, Australia or the UK, and not pursuing a medical degree.
iii) 50% paid up home in developed country - preference currently for Hong Kong, am acceptable to staying in Singapore, Canada or even in Europe.
iv) USD10 million producing 3% income per annum (USD300K / RM1.2 million per annum at USD1 : MYR4)

[not achieved, most difficult level to reach, need to assume that both other half and I remain in good jobs on very good trajectories, there are no emergencies or worldwide circumstances affecting our lives, assuming that currencies we earn in or inflation stays stable, hoping to achieve between age 55 to 60]

Our current jobs are quite stressful (though rewarding). I may just call it quits for both of us between Stages 3 and 4 and just move into lower paying, but less stressful jobs, or, if we wanted to contribute more to the world, into charity or social work.

We are lucky that our earnings are in USD / HKD and we are in good jobs. We save approximately 50% of our income and control our expenditure carefully. Children will take a big chunk of our future earnings though, so let's see how things go.

Actually around 50% of net every month. When it comes to bonus I will save most of it. So I said average up to 70%.

I consider the net portion to be = gross salary - tithe - tax - epf.
Savings rate = all types of savings / net portion

Savings part consists of all retirement, child education, property investment etc. Because of this, 50% savings rate does not all translate into retirement nest egg I feel... Still a long way to go to FI.

Is this how you compute the savings rate?

Objective wise, I am still thinking whether I should exit from corporate scene while semi FI, and continue working on other jobs till FI. Or continue working till FI. Aiming age 40.

I dont think my family lives frugal life, but we aim to spend mostly on necessity. Sometimes we still indulge in buying something not strictly a need.

Looking forward to hearing from you all.

Route to FI for a sole breadwinner and a family of 4 couple is very challenging. I always feel either I dont save enough or I dont earn enough.

I need to wake up and continue working to put food on the table.

Superb sharing!! Are you considering to retire in Malaysia? What are the factors for you to decide whether to stay on in HK or move to MY or anywhere else?

Thanks for sharing. Have to point out that in Malaysia, a fully paid up home with RM5mil to spare is anything but basic ...many people will accept much lower levels for FI, I think

On another note.. I am surprised that you prefer to stay in HK even after FI. I thought most people do not like it there, saying it is hectic and congested ...from the little travels I did there, I actually love HK.. very connected and it has everything to offer provided you can afford .. ha ha

Congratulations! it is more plausible to achieve fi/re by working as expat.

This post has been edited by icemanfx: Sep 18 2019, 10:40 AM

Hi guys,
Newbie here..
I'm currently just started my working life and I'm obsessed with FI. Would like an advise or two on how to improve my money management so here it goes..

I'm 23 this year just started working 10 months ago in reputable M&C.
Basic salary is about 3.6k
I have a side business that has been running for about 6 months which gains me about 3k(during starting period)-17k(currently) per month.

Currently I only have about 10k in my savings account currently..

The rest of the money i stored in :
FD = RM58k
ASM = RM42K
EPF = RM16k (inc self top up)
Stocks = RM11K
BTC = RM57k++

My target has always been getting RM1M before I'm 30 (planning to get married that time)

At the moment, my strategy is to keep pumping my EPF self contribution to gain as much compounding interest as possible (i don't need the money currently so I'm okay if the money being locked up there)

Any advise from sifus on how to improve my goals? I've been working hard on it and trying hard on how to improve my strategy. Any advise will be appreciated

This post has been edited by ywliang96: Sep 18 2019, 11:55 AM

you currently has about RM200k and you are now 23 yrs old
you want to have RM1 mil by age 30
with 7 yrs to go, how much will you be topping up into EPF per yr for the next 7 yrs?
or how much more money will you be saving for investment per month for the next 7 yrs?

I’m considered myself quite lucky where I have both house & car (FAMA sponsored)

So I’m planning to take that advantage and save/invest as much as possible for the future.

Currently my expenses is about RM1k++ and the rest go to EPF. I target myself to top up at least 3-5k for EPF every month and the rest of the money goes in to Stocks/BTC and some to e-FD (emergency fund)

My long term goals has always been having at least 2M in my EPF which roughly have 120k in a year (assuming EPF stays at 6% interest ) to retire comfortably

But short term is 1M in 30

This post has been edited by ywliang96: Sep 18 2019, 12:23 PM

Quite impressive for a 23 yo with a 20k/month income
But we don't really know if your commitment like house, car, parents etc. So can't really give an exact advice.

Additionally is the side business income fixed? And do u see yourself leave the conpany and focus solely on your side business in the near future?

The only advice now is maybe to continue your good work I guess

Lucky guy haha.

1k expenses is very good with your income.
Btw you can only withdraw your epf when u r 55. U sure you won't need the money till then?

Overall should be fine. For btc it's quite risky right?

net income from work about 3k + 8k (from the average of 15k from side business) = 11k - 1k expenses = 10k saved.
10k x 12 x 7 yrs = 840k + yr current 200k (assuming no asset/interest gain after 7 yrs), with this simple calculation, you will hit your target already....

so on your query "Any advise from sifus on how to improve my goals? I've been working hard on it and trying hard on how to improve my strategy. Any advise will be appreciated".....what do you think?