Actually i must thank Showtime because he took a lot of time/effort to convince me about having sufficient funds to retire.

I have lived/worked in Sydney for close to 40 years too and the longest holiday i have had in KL was 6 weeks so i wasn't very sure about cost of living in KL - people tell me it is cheaper than Sydney but i wasn't still too sure. If i had planned to retire in Sydney, i will probably continue to work because life can pretty boring in Sydney and most people don't retire unless they get retrenched here. Voluntary retirement before 60 is a luxury in Sydney because of the high cost of living here. This is the reason why all my friends tell me to continue working.

I take great assurance from one of Showtime's comments recently that i have sufficient to retire because i used to get nightmares waking up in the middle of the night dreaming that i have run of funds after retirement in KL and there is no chance of ever deriving an income anymore.

Contented is happiness. If one used to travel by biz class, stay in suite and wish to continue similar lifestyle in retirement, will need over a$5m to sustain. If one has the capability to earn, there is nothing wrong to it. One may rant about need to make $ but satisfaction from e.g biz class, suite stay make it worthwhile.

If one couldn't bare daily fluctuations of stock price, should reduce or exit.

Actually it is very true about our lifestyle getting more expensive as we have more money - i find that as i grow older, i am spoiling myself with more comforts compared to before. When i go to HK nowadays, i would stay at 4-star hotels (HK hotel prices are quite similar to Sydney hotel prices) rather than a 3-star hotel (which i used to 10-15 years ago when i was not so financially well off as now). I love HK because i like to eat and the food is good there!! When we get older, we change but there are may be some areas where we will not.

Like nowadays, i prefer to drive a small-mid Japanese car while in my younger days, i would have liked a BMW or Merc. Overall, i think my lifestyle costs (in holidays and food) definitely is higher nowadays compared to 10-15 years ago while my preference for 'luxury goods' has dropped significantly. I no longer indulge in Rolex watches or Dunhill wallets/clothes which i was crazy for when younger. I guess all of us are different so it is probably different for every individual.

Hi Gary it is good to know that you are staying in AU but choose to retire in KL, at least MY isn't that bad right

From my observation people in AU work until very old because the welfare there is too good and people thought they can always depend on the government, which I think is a really bad idea
It is better to depend on ourselves rather than on government. This is especially the case in MY because we don't have good welfare system but is not too far off with western countries like AU even though the welfare is so good. This is because (i) with inflation the money we get from the welfare is smaller in value in years to come so never depend on that (ii) as you said the welfare system is not sustainable and the increase in retirement age proposal meaning people have to work even longer and (ii) let's be frank, those in power will only think for themselves and not the people (as in the dramatic frequent-change of PM in AU and just 2 weeks ago AU has a new PM, again. I already lost count of how many PM change in AU for the last few years)

P/S: I saw your signature that you stay in Randwick. I stayed there for some time and really love Randwick. It is nostalgic thinking back

People live longer and gomen need tax to sustain, retirement age is getting older. Without state pension, many of those retired early ended up living below poverty level or dependence on financial assistance from other family members.

The old-age pension cost the govt A$44bil/yr. This is the biggest area of welfare spending for the govt. It is clearly unsustainable but no govt dares to increase the age (currently 65-67 depending on your age). There were plans to increase it to 70 but Morrison has killed it altogether. The reason why the Aussie dollar is plunging is because we are known as the 'welfare country'. For people like me, we will not be able to get the age-pension because both of us way exceed the A$800k cut-off point.

I have lived in Randwick ever since 1981. I live quite near Centennial Park which is quite a leafy area. Today is a beautiful spring day and i am going out now. I am very free these 4 mths because my wife is in Kl looking after her old-aged father and she is due back in Sydney tonight. She normally doesn't like me to go on LYN because she says i shouldn't be talking to young kids that i don't know on the net.

This post has been edited by Garysydney: Sep 9 2018, 11:59 AM

Er how about moving money out of AU. That way you get both pension and enjoy your earnings.

so now advising how to skim the government for pension?

If is legal, do it. You already pay lots of money in form of income tax, time for govt yo pay you back the money.

Like banks. Banks are sucker/leech. Learn to suck from banks where possible.

If you feel like donating money to govt, be my guest. I don't donate money to govt and banks if I can help it. The only thing worth donating to is charity bodies or for global warming causes.

it is not legal. How does skimming the government is legal?

By the way, how can you have additional $$ for donation? thought most of your monthly expenses is about Rm300?

If the law clearly state amount inside the country means amount inside the country. So it does not include amount outside the country. Hence make use of such loop holes. Those are legal ways.

Why cannot? I save > RM2k. I use the remaining cash to make sure I pay less money to govt. Why do you think I restrict my budget? The leftovers use for investment or use to claim money back from govt. If you spend everything, you have less cash available to claim free money back from govt. There's so many legal ways to pay less cash to govt and make the govt work for you.

This post has been edited by Ramjade: Sep 9 2018, 02:07 PM

Australian Taxation system cover income generated and/or assets located in elsewhere from Aus.

You mentioned you are earning RM4k so what tax you are paying?

Income tax.

There are many experienced forummers in Finance section here. Hensel, Propetjul, wongmunkeong, elea, gark, cherroy, avfan, nexona, xuzen off my head and a few others I cannot remember their nick as they may not be as active nowadays...We share a lot of useful info and tips.

There are some young forummers who are also willing to share their knowledge and experience. So, keep an open mind, and filter all the information. Many usefu information from them too....

You can remain strictly anonymous, don't respond to any offers or pm, then you will be safe from any scam

Not sure how to live with 2k per month in KL. 2k properly only for 3 simple meal daily and normal utility and assessment bills and public transportation. I think minimum 2.5k - 3k more likely.

For the young man and woman who have set their mind on FIRE, I would like to throw you guys and girls a bigger picture :

1. Retiring early at age 40 sounds nice.

2. But if you think beyond yourself, your plan has a significant impact on the economy, society and human advancement. Sounds exaggerating ?

3. In economics, RE means a person does not contribute to the production of GDP anymore. He no longer is a net contributor to the economy

4. He is now a net consumer of scarce resources of the economy

5. An economy needs new blood to support the old and young people. That’s why countries with aging population face economic issues (eg Japan). If everybody retires at 40s, the economy will collapse. Just imagine 50% of the population are retirees, with the other 50% produce necessities for everyone else.

6. If you don’t understand in macro-economics terms, then think of it from the taxation point of view. When more people retire early, the tax revenue of a country will reduce. If a country has less income, the economy as a whole will suffer. The government cannot afford public services and the society will be in chaos

7. We all know our EPF is a quasi-ponzi scheme. If there are no new contributors, it will collapse. Remember those who retire at age 40 still have 15 years to go before they can dip into their retirement pot

8. From science progression point of view, people in the mid-40s are at their prime, most productive and most knowledgable. If all scientists have the same FIRE mindset, mankind won’t achieve what we achieved today. There will be very few inventions

9. If the seniors in work place retire early, the juniors may not be able to learn the trade in the most efficient manner.

10. RE is a selfish act. You enjoy the education provided to you for first 20 years. Bear in mind education are paid for by taxes from your predecessors who work hard. If they RE, taxes will drop, and you will not be able to enjoy the free education

11. After you graduate, you learn the skills from experienced seniors who don't retire early. You add value to yourself and progress through the corporate ladder and make more money

12. But when you reach 40 y/o, you have made enough money to retire and say bye bye

13. Instead of giving back to your country/society, you leave them and enjoy your personal lives. Younger generation will suffer

14. And when you become older and weaker 30 years later, you consume the resources and become a burden to the society.

RE at 40 years old is too early. If you have this mindset, you are a selfish person in the big picture. Work at least to the official retirement age. The country/society/younger generation needs you. Give back and contribute your part so that both the generations before and after you can enjoy the benefit you have enjoyed.

This post has been edited by Showtime747: Sep 9 2018, 03:15 PM

It is very hard to get old-aged pension now if you have hidden your assets overseas. The govt is getting very smart nowadays because they are aware a lot of Honkies and PRCs have assets overseas and claiming full pension. It used to be easy to get the full pension because the govt didn't really care but they have definitely tighten their cross-checking with other jurisdiction/countries in the last couple of years.

My Honkie colleague was already teaching me (move assets overseas) this 25 years ago - she would be nearly 75 years old now after taking redundancy about 10 years ago. Just goes to show how their minds worked - i never even thought about it and they were already planning it years before!!

I guess my wife is telling me an old man like me shouldn't go talking with younger people and that i should be talking with people my age. What she doesn't know is that i have picked up a lot of things in LYN which will prove useful when i go back to KL to retire. Some of the things/tips that are expressed in this forum are actually very useful to me as i am living overseas and have not much clue about living long-term in Msia.

When enough people retire early i.e leave work force, those remaining in the work force could and will demand for higher price for their services i.e inflation will rise. Some or many of those retired may be forced to return to work.

In practice, without state sponsored education and welfare, few with children could truly fi/re

Sorry but I guess lots of ppl had misunderstand / disagreement / bias on RE part. Many had take the stand that RE is equivalent to normal retirement post 55 or 60 years olds where ppl only "makan, tidur dan main". Well, if you looks more carefully, especially from angmo blogger, many of them effective transit into another type of works (something meaningful to their believe) instead of corporate 9-5 job. Thus, i can't agreed on all the points above as the very fundamental view on FI/RE is different; but I'm really feel RE (retirement early) is a misleading terminology.

Besides, we had to admit that not everyone can archive FI, and among these ppl, not all of them can resist the greed and move on to RE. Anyhow, the world is huge enough to accept these diversity, similiar to religion & races. Thus, many points wont's happened as not every can FI/RE, and affect the whole economy eventually, similar to you can't expect ALL smoker stop smoking as all of us knew is not good for health. I guess you were old enough appreciate this is not a perfect world.

One the other hand, if one success reached his FI at 40 and break away from his corporate minion job could due to his prioity on health/family or being forced i.e:layoff. His still contributing in other forms, eg: funding for business via investment/stock/etc, spend more focus and raise their kids be a better person, charity works, or even writing an self-help book etc. Would you agreed these are much better than those still works but on sin industries related to gambling, human or weapon trafficker, drug dealer, etc?

FI essentially is an enablement on finacially wise to allow someone move to next stage. while RE part is one trying find a new balance of his life. So long this new balance is not hurting anyone, we shouldnt' take any prejudicement on it.

Many breakthru and innovation mainly from "passionated" scientist, and these ppl unlikely take RE as their passion and purpose is what they doing in their dayjob. FI is just meant there is no financial stress for them. Unfortunately, in corporate world, most of corporate minion are soulless and all these cog are replaceable when it needed. Furthermore, some new youngester not neccessary value their senior opinion, and corporate life is getting worse due to ever demanding and constant changes. Afterall, the manager, senior manager or even CEO just another cog.