Actually when you look at someone who is frugal/thrifty, you will find that with such attitudes, you will definitely cut down your living costs. I never thought (in my earlier days of my youth) that frugality was important for achieving early retirement/financial independence. I always thought it is crucial (absolutely compulsory!) to build income-producing assets (by gearing) and i have always lived with this attitude all my life until recently in the last couple years when i start to think more deeper about retirement expenses. No doubt building income-producing assets is important but if one doesn't have a very expensive lifestyle (usually because they are frugal), they require a lot less income-producing assets to sustain their lifestyle and hence can become FI/RE because any extra income will just add on to their buffer (as an insurance for periods where their expenses may grow due to unexpected events in life like major illness, etc...).

A lot of my friends in their 60s (in Sydney) are still working because they tell me they need A$55-70k/yr in expenses. All of them are professionals and they keep telling me they cannot retire because they don't have much income-producing assets. All have children who are in their 20s/30s and independent. They tell me that when their children were little, they just couldn't managed to save as everything comes in goes out immediately and they have been made redundant a couple of times. I tried to convince them their lifestyle is way too expensive (a lot of eating out - oldies like them like to drink good wine with some reds costing a couple of hundred bucks). When i analyze their lifestyle, i can easily see they can reduce their living costs by $15-20k/yr but they are accustomed to that kind of lifestyle so cutting down will become miserable/intolerable for them so they are happy to continue working. They tell me they will not stop working until they get retrenched.

I don't quite understand what you might mean by 'fulfillment' but after 60+, most people work because they need to (because they don't have the funds to sustain their current lifestyle). I can tell these people dread their job because they complain they are all required to meet strict kpi(s). If given the choice of sitting at home and going to work, you can guess which they will choose. They are all wage-earners and they are unlike people with their own business where all profits generated goes to their own pockets and thus the sense of fulfillment comes in. I am 56 and i can tell you my job doesn't give me any fulfillment. I am strictly in there for the money. I don't have any stress at work because my kpi(s) are easily met and i am bored at work because i am so free which is why my wife keeps reminding me about me getting 'gaji buta'. However, not everyone is as lucky as me and a few of them comes to badminton to 'de-stress'. If they had got used to surviving with a cheaper lifestyle, i suspect a lot of them would have stopped work. After all, most of us migrated because we hope life would be better (and easier) in a foreign country - if we need to continue to work till we are in our seventies, would you think that migrating to Aust is a mistake? All the friends that i was referring to have all migrated to Aust from Msia in the 70/80s like me.

There is no free lunch, if one wants to have a lavish lifestyle needs to find income to sustain, dreading to work is a price to pay. If he find work is too heavy to bare, he will cut back, similarly for lifestyle. Similarly, if one choose to retire early, need to live frugally and save early and save more.

If one intended to retire at older age, amount of saving needed is less.

Whether to live a fulfilled or frugal life is subjective e.g what is a point to live like a monk til 100 y.o?

I knew someone close that FI/RE at age 38 with more than RM 1M in net worth.  RE is not his option but its because of the company had wound up.  Due to lack of motivation to work for other ppl, he decided to concentrate on investment alone.  Now with alot of freetime, same lifestyle/spending and networth keep increasing.

In countries that have state pension e.g Australia, u.k and if state pension is enough to live a frugal life, one need not save more or invest more at early stage.

This is very true. In Aust at 67 years of age, you can get A$700/wk per couple (old-aged pension by Govt) if you have less than A$400k in retirement savings so your basic retirement costs are already covered. Most average people will need about A$40-45k/yr with a bit of eating out occasionally and overseas travel. This old-aged pension has been already there for as long as i can remember. If you have a few hundred thousand dollars (Aussie) in retirement savings at 67 (which is very easy to achieve) and you own outright your own home and car (no debts), you live quite well in this 'lucky country'. The govt has been hinting that the pension age will eventually go to 70 but no parties (Lib/Nat and Lab) is willing to do it as it is political suicide. The biggest spend in this country now by the govt is welfare esp. old-age pension (the biggest category in welfare spending) followed by health (most visits to see a GP is free as most of them bulk-bill).

The govt pays for all this by having very high personal income tax rates and company tax is 30% which is very high compared to world standards.

the net worth include epf?

Hi guys, i want to ask you, if I can settle my home and car loan by 40, then purely save money from then onward for retirement... Is it doable?

Hi guys, i want to ask you, if I can settle my home and car loan by 40, then purely save money from then onward for retirement... Is it doable?

I probably have some extra money in pocket and need ideas investing. Got only rm30k to invest. Can anyone give me suggestion what kind of investment should I do?

Got few ideas

ASB
TABUNG HAJI
Resort Investment
Buy business
Stock trader full time

** Prefer to have monthly income as I’m planning to be a fulltime housewife.

Please help!

Hi guys, i want to ask you, if I can settle my home and car loan by 40, then purely save money from then onward for retirement... Is it doable?

As mentioned by @MUM, it depends on several factors. Is it doable? Yes of course but is it wise? That's something to consider.

Car loan is a very straight forward one, due to its fixed interest (nominal interest rate). So if you can generate more ROI than your car loan's Interest Rate, then just keep the car loan & continue using your extra funds to generate better returns. Can service your loan & can even get some extra pocket money for yourself.

Home loan is a bit different cause the rates aren't fixed, it's a bit more complex but same logic applies: If you can generate better ROI than your loan's interest rate, keep the loan & use the extra funds to generate more money for you.

There's good debts & bad debts, understand the difference & learn to leverage on good debts to bring you higher. A lot of people here has the mentality that debts = bad bad bad. Hope this opens up your vision a bit.

Best to read this thread for ideas.

thank you so much!!       

I'm young but love to speak to seniors regarding retirement.

When they're retired, seniors almost everyday cook at home, not because they have no choice, but because the food at home taste better, way more nutritious and of course because they have all the time in the world. Not to mention their intake is so little with just plain food.

One couple who is retired for 10 years said 3k is way more than enough. This is a simple couple who do not do much travelling.

Another couple also gave a similar figure. When I asked is 5k a month sufficient, I was met with a light ridicule saying what are they gonna do with so much money a month. This is a couple who travels 8-10 times overseas a year, has potentially upwards of 10m in assets. They live a simple life but made good financial decisions hence the extremes in assets value and frugal mentality. Their travels are paid for by what the husband earns on a PT basis selling niche handmade hardware (USD). They are one of the happiest couple I know.

Based on the above, I can safely conclude that 3-4k a month is enough, with a sellable PT skillset, sufficient medical coverage and a comfortable nest egg. Provided your kids education, house and cars are paid for.