And yet you tell others their amount ie 150k is not enough

Since this 150,000 figure came into discussion, I’ll clarify a bit.

For the sake of clarity, in my instance, if it pertains to my situation, the RM150,000 came about as my present passive income per month. It’s the cumulative average from the bond coupons, stock dividends, special FD returns and rental returns from our essentials and commercial investment properties both in Singapore and Australia, and it includes both my Australian and Singaporean portfolios.

Combined, I estimate a very modest return of $50,000 per month, and I derived the RM150,000 figure by a fixed formula of 1 SGD = 1 AUD = 3 RM

What is not included are my CPF savings, insurance payouts and annuity plans.

We are frugal in a daily basis BUT at the moment, and because both of us we are still working, we spend a lot on travel expenses. I’ve worked out that at present, in Singapore, it costs $15,000 per month for our “upkeep”. The bulk of that ($3,000/month and $6,000/month) is derived by food costs (we never cook at home as both of us work) and travel/holiday expenses.

Once we retire, my wife will undoubtedly focus her free energy in the kitchen (as promised - I can’t wait) and I dare say that $3,000 food bill will shrink significantly. As would that $6,000 monthly travel bill. These are expenses that exist only because (1) we can afford them to continue at present and (2) because of our unique circumstances that require eating out as a feasible option.

So, as Bora Prisoner correctly surmised, it’s not just a figure - each person’s needs are specific and unique to himself - and it’s how he or she works within the limits of any given figure that determines successful FI/RE

This post has been edited by hksgmy: Dec 28 2019, 05:36 AM

This a discussion on future retirement and we should weigh in on what is realistic in our plans. If we feel there is flaws or advantages then we should explore it so that plans may be remade. Maybe my views are not suitable for you and i form my opinion from my experiences only. By the way , i am retired a few years ago and i do know what is its experiences.

Exactly my point earlier, everyone has a different number it’s not for you to say it’s enough or not for them.

The Art of Doing Nothing.

This post is not for everyone, especially those who are having an active lifestyle and finds sitting down boring.

So what is the living cost of being sedentary and one who dislikes doing anything as it is too much of a bother? Close to zero.

It is similar to asking what the fuel consumption of a gas guzzler when it is only driven 2 or 3 times in a month. Very low fuel consumption.

So the living cost of a retiree can be very low… if he is debt free, the only basic living cost is food (and his medical needs). When he was working, his expenses are mostly on the transport to his place of work, his car and house instalments, and his lunch, if it is not provided by the company.

The bulk of the monthly expenditure is on the car and the house. Once these loans are settled, the monthly expenditure is greatly reduced.

So to strive for early retirement, at an earlier age of 45 or 50 instead at age 60, everyone can to it if they set their minds to it. It is important to know your own true self and what you want. Do not let others determine the living cost.

Others may set a higher figure since the maintenance fee on their condo unit can be no less than two thousands, and then there are club memberships and other bills that they have to foot every month.

Their cost of their car’s wash and wax can even be higher than what I spend on food.

Once again, don’t ever ask how much it takes to retire. Determine the figure on your own. If you have to ask because you are indecisive… well, grow some balls and figure it out on your own.

Otherwise, you can select not to retire early and work till the mandatory retirement age.

By mandatory retirement age, I am writing for those “tah kung chai” or wage earners who are not running their own businesses or practises.

Needless to say, to retire, you need to be financially independence first. You are debt free and have savings to last you a life time.

My advice would be keeping your financial plans as simple as possible. Easy to comprehend, without needing an accountant to figure what are the assets, what are the liabilities and what are net savings.

Don’t be too taken up by the marketing talk of flexi housing loans and choose to finance your house 30 or 35 years. Keep it simple. If you want to retire by age 45, choose a loan tenure that you can fully settled by age 45 or several years earlier.

Be prudent in using loans. They come with interest. So borrow only what you need to close the shortfall. Don’t over borrow… as you will be paying more unnecessary interests.

In personal finance, there is no such thing as “leverage”. Leave this business jargon to where it belongs, in the business world.

To have savings or leftovers from the monthly salary, live within your means. Better still, be frugal and spend only a small fraction of your salary. The bulk of the spending should be only on the car and housing loans.

Live well below your means to have more savings. If the car and house is by any means a status symbol, set the status 1 or 2 notches lower.

Be reminded that the mandatory retirement age is set by society at large, not by you. It used to be 55, and it changed to 60 recently. You should set this retirement age as it is your life.

I find it abhorrence in not being able to retire as and when I wish to. The words “mandatory retirement” is an abhorrent as if we are robot ants born to perform a duty for the society to keep its economy and welfare ongoing.

And especially if you are one of those suffering tah kung chai in dead end jobs who have to act and respond accordingly to their employers’ whims and fancies, it is a wonderful unrestraint feeling of freedom to know that you are financially independence and debt free, and can walk away any time.

Do aim to have financial freedom as early as possible. Set yourself free from work.

May I hear your story about how you achieve quite a lot when you are still quite young?

Cheers.

Oh man, 4 tenets of wisdom to live by! This resonates with what I’ve been advocating and practicing so much - and you’ve summarised it so succinctly.

LOL...M40..."150k is enough as they never spent more than this amount, as they never earn more than this amount every year"

But what if I earn more than 700K per annum but think that RM150K per annum is enough because I don't spend that much without my loans and dependants?

I did explain a little in my earlier posts. In short, I started my own business ten years ago. Worked really really hard for the first 5 years and now business is doing well so I only need to work a few hours a day.

Always good to hear stories where one works hard and pays off.

Kudos!

First and foremost congrats because you are already way beyond the T20 group.

For M40, mean income is around 7-8k a month which is less than 100k a year.. so 150k is really a ‘dream figure’ for most M40s.

It all comes to personal preference how they want to retire.. or how they want to define when they hit FI.

Wayton is just trying to generalize the groups for discussion purposes, and I think his statements are quite a fair representative of the groups Whereas you are, in my opinion, one of the ‘special and doing well’ group

If you are getting 700k pa, safe to consider you are top 5% or even top 2% of the country already..

700K is for T20, not M40.
Generally, M40 is not being categorised in a earning figure that more than 150K pa.

Yes, congrat, if a T20 is earning 700k and view 150k is enough means that the person is quite prudent in financial management.

Previous post was a respond to statement of 150k is not enough, and many people hardly have those earning, let alone 150k passive income for retirement.
So it is hard to define or say how it is enough or not enough.

Retired at 42 but could have done it at 39. Practised FIRE without knowing it.

Would sum it up to
- hard work which is worked like 10 hours a day
- saved 70% of my income which means up to 34 only 2 foreign holidays
- invested my money wisely
- high salaried stressful sales job
- lots of luck

I'm thinking of starting a blog on this do you think you guys would be interested in
this type of blog?

Thanks.

https://www.mrmoneymustache.com/blog/ is popular.

If you know how to continuously grow your RM2m instead of let it sit in the FD, it should be sufficient. 95% of the world population don't even worth that amount.

Very good point but now I think he is making more from his blog then when he was working haha

FIRE is not for everyone as suffering for like 20 years to retire earlier might not be for everyone. The principles are great, but it should be everyone personal decision on the balance they want to achieve.

In 10 years time you would most probably be having a more interesting life then your friends with the interesting life's. Keep it up.

If you're living like a monk and and intend to retire in Ipoh at 40 should be very easy. Keep it up

As well remember the inflation and global printing money exercises in future....