No doubt. Cost of living is very high in Sydney. When i go out to Din Tai Fung in KL (Mid-Valley), my bill comes out to rm70 (for my wife and myself. My wife orders without looking at the price. Here i go to Din Tai Fung in Word Square and it will cost us about A$53 for the same meal so when you look at it, i am only making the equivalent of about rm15-16k/mth equivalent in KL. I pay a lot of income tax here and i am lucky to have my employer pay A$25-26k/yr (after tax) to my super (epf) because i have a defined benefit super (which is the best super scheme where the payout is based on our final salary and number of years worked).

P/s: What i am trying to put across is that Msian pay is very low (by international standards) and i am not being dis-respectful or looking down on forummers here.

Due to income tax being very high here (you pay nearly 40% marginal rates once you hit A$90k/yr), even though it looks very good having a package of A$135k (with A$25k after-tax going to super), i estimate my income being similar to someone getting about rm15-16k/mth (after-tax) in KL.

What i am trying to convey across is that Msian wages are very low (by international standards) - only in the recent few months i understood why people would take such high risks to come over to work here illegally. There is a tv program (shown weekly) here on customs and immigration and i see a lot of young people being refused entry because they came across as someone who intended to work illegally. A good proportion of them are Msians.

I know lot of young guys want to meet ppl with "good connections" and "winning mentality" but then realistically you have to ask yourself. Why would your peers who are successful (lets say rich too) want to get to know you? Rich successful people want to stick among rich successful guys. Its a tough world, now you have to think - what can you bring to the table (truthfully not everything resolves around money) that allows you to enter to their circle of friends. For eg. lets say you are a doctor (but of course at this age, you have not achieved much) - but you have good knowledge in medicine. When you mix around more "atas" ppl , you can give them free medical advice, give them a quick checkup - and then they will start to think ok this guy may not be successful atm , but he has good medical skills and knowledge. Now 10 years down the road, you are a specialist doctor - now opportunities may arise , those friends who you have been in your circle decides to invest in you and start a franchise clinic - BOOM you are their no.1 choice. Now the same can be said of many other skills and knowledge (accountant, you can help them do tax, architect - you can help them to do free house design - example here la - i don't think i can spoonfeed more, the rest you think yourself.

It’s basically socializing & networking. As mentioned already, it’s more about what value can you bring to the table?

Life is pretty much giving first before getting anything in return, really like an investment i.e. you have to cough out some money first as capital before getting any returns. So invest in networking too e.g. join seminars or some paid events/functions to meet with certain people. If you’re cheap, start with free events first. Just staying caved up in your house & office ain’t gonna bring you anywhere.

So once you’re meeting people, your first investment paid off. What’s next? How you’re gonna attract people & at least hold a decent conversation? Again, invest in yourself first - personal grooming, skills, knowledge & experience. Thus having a good skill, info & look presentable is important to keep people interested in you.

So once you’re sociable & networking well, keep it up. Continue “meeting up” the high potential individuals more regularly. You wanna socialize with “atas” people, don’t you need you need to “yumcha” in atas or at least slightly above average places? So this cost money too. This is when your lifestyle will grow more expensive as your income grow too. Getting golf club membership, go golfing with CEOs or having access to VIP places, exclusive passes/invites etc etc.

Just start off with free events/function first & work on your basics. As you go along, things will make sense by itself. Most importantly, be sincere & enjoy what you’re doing.

Sincerely, thank you Mr cfkoon & Mr NightHeart for the advice & notes! 

Hi guys!

Been working towards FI/RE since 2 years ago, and I managed to achieve my personal target of 100k of net worth before turning 26 just a couple of weeks ago.

My method is mainly:
1. Have a monthly budget on how much to spend for bills, food, groceries, etc.
2. Invest about 1/3 of my income to either ASB, TH.

Since I have achieved my personal milestones, I am thinking to step up my game to increase my net worth in a higher rate by creating additional income stream and/or investing in the stock market. I am getting married at the end of next year and probably wouldn't be able to save/invest much for a period of time afterwards.

I've been investing in the stock market a little bit since last year but couldn't really have a consistent return, I need to learn more. Anyway, do you guys have some ideas on a simple additional income stream or investment ideas that I could look into?

Thanks! Keep the FI/RE lit.

As I said, all these are your observations and they are all good but then these things are not going to enhance your income in any direct and impactful way...

It's syiok sendiri:)

so what u trying to say by travelling,
u have higher chances to get the job and more sound decision making related to investment?

I do agree with you that he is syiok sendiri. Thinking few weeks he can master all the culture of every country.

Can you enlighten us how does travelling can help a person accumulate income faster? How does a person can out do others in an interview by knowing other countries culture? May be applying as tour guide?

If you can spend few weeks in one country in one country that mean you are definitely don’t have any commitment to worry about.

the goal is to achieve fi/re
i get it higher chances to score a high salary job but from there how one can achieve fi/re
tats good.. so how far from your targeted fi/re?
whats ur goal btw?
how much of ur goal related from the networking? izit sorta like investment/business at those travelling countries?
from books, article to ppl experience, i heard of only travelling after retirement.. this is or at least for me 1st time come across travelling b4 retirement will helps to achieve fi/re.
hence the curiosity.

Oops.. I mean option A has potential to earn more... potential only ah... if freehold landed , hard to lose money in the long run...but because of the monthly installments , u might free more stressful lah..

Option B - sleep soundly

option A, take up a 10yrs mortgage loan of 580K@4.45%pa for a 730K DSL (3rd property); pay 6000/mthx12x10yrs = 720K+(730K-580K) = 870K

The right question should be.... how sustainable is this RM 100k monthly? Is it short term? Or tail end of career? Usually high salary earners can sustain around 5 years of high income. What is after? I know a guy earn a lot also during his time in Berjaya. Now end up spend all EPF also kosong liao because of poor financial decisions.

So the person earning 100k monthly in my opinion should look into building passive income.

I've been saying, FIRE work even better, the further down the income scale you go.

True.. or alternatively if you can lower your expenses significantly, you can also achieve FI earlier.
Most common way is if your house is worth a lot, sell and downgrade to a cheaper home. Then use the difference to generate more passive income.

All this talk about being frugal. Personally I feel that not enough focus is being talked about upping ur income.

Although both of them are important. It is a balance. If u arent earning enough it doesnt matter how much % u save.

But savings are the things that allow u to invest and become financially free.

30m 3% is like 900k
Perhaps some of them are on this thread, who knows

Here is a place for you to share and discuss, even if none of them are here, we still can learn from each other.

What makes you feel the reply here are like blind leading the deaf?

Very simple ...

Have you come across a person who has FIRED who does not own any props?

I kinda feel that way too, but it’s mostly because I am still young and want to move around different countries, and properties tie me down to a place. Can still hold other $ generating assets and pay rent to risk takers.

lucky we sold off some properties just before the property bubble burst. Or else we would have been in a debt senario. Now those properties have even dropped below purchase price. so lucky made a correct move.

Investing is important, how do I invest? 70% of my investments are in real estate. I pay 30-50% deposit, rentals pays off the 25 year loan. Profits? It goes back to reduce the principal. I don't really give a toss when people tell me there are better investments than real estate, you aren't walking in my shoes and I don't walk in yours.

Seems like a person need to start from dirt scrap, where relatives are all beggars and broken family , preferable an orphan living in the street for their later successful life to be fully attributed to their efforts alone. By that same yardsticks, warren buffet, bill gates and mark Zuckenberg are all failures.... lol

Exactly,... depending on how you measure then, since you uttered the statement "to be FULLY attributed to their efforts ALONE" - how far you need to run and how hard you need to climb to reach the same target as another would then come into the benchmarking.

Yes - Donald Trump is a failure if we are to attribute to efforts ALONE. He knows that too,... that's why he always insisted everywhere that he paid back the USD1Million that his dad loaned to him for some properties that he first started with.

I don't know the history of two of the men you mentioned, but Bill Gates climbed hard too, to first convince IBM World Trade Corporation to accept his Disk Operating System. He did not have much help from his parents, unless you count that shed that he worked in as a big family advantage..

I did say he has his great qualities too, which you may have missed,...