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.

Agreed if you're not suffering then that's the correct balance for you.

Good point on living below your means.

In my personal humble opinion a person and as a person who retired early at 42 I could have done it at 39 but didn't have the guts to retire. I had surprisingly never heard about FI/RE movement till I retired. Although after reading about it I do see some similarities between it and my life.

To me retiring early has always about being about two concepts
frugality = delayed gratification
high income = personal sacrifices

Both are equally important living below your means is only the start. For me, I maintained my expenses at the same level for the first 10 years of my life even though my annual income had increased by 5 times.

After 12 years if you didn't take into account inflation my annual investment cashflow was equal to my expenses. (I had already increase my expenses by about 2.5 times my original as relaxed a bit and allowed for a bit of inflation)

High income always involves sacrifices what sacrifices?
1. I didn't have time for friends
2. I didn't have time to exercise
3. I never had time to participate in forums like low yat till today
4. I spent my weekends sleeping catching up on sleep
5. I didn't have time for my family

Frugality has never been an issue with me as when you're so busy you don't really have time to spend money.

My target was retired by 40 well I sort of achieved it but did it a bit late as I didn't have the guts to do it. As
the change from spending your salary as compared to spending your investment income was quite a big change
for me.

I couldn't have done it without suffering a bit (long hours and super stressed). To say that suffering to achieve your goal is wrong then I guess I did it the wrong way . If you asked me to do it again without suffering I would tell you I wouldn't know how to do that. Anyway, I can't turn back the clock, but I can say I was willing to make those sacrifices and today I am enjoying the benefits.

I do believe there are different ways to achieve the same goal and everyone has a different goal too. My way might
not be suitable for others.

All the best to you and everyone in achieving your goals.

Your asset mix would depend on a lot of factors it would be hard to say unless someone actually
had some details.

Making the assumption that you are asking about at asset mix based on the goal of retiring at 50 with no dependents.

You have to first look at
1. Required future cashflow meaning how much you would need till death
2. Risk
-risk profile (how you react emotionally to changes in the value of your portfolio)
-risk capacity (how much you can afford to lose, this will depend on your future cash flow requirements)
3. Assumptions on
-inflation rate
-rate of return of different asset classes
4. Your life expectancy
5. Whether you are looking at capital depreciation on non-capital depreciation model for retirement

The more accurate detailed way is like 1 inch of stuff to read in the CFP textbook.

So based on the assumption
1. Expected returns
- 8% Equity returns
- 4% Bonds/Fixed Income returns
2. Inflation - 3%
3. Life Expectancy - 90

Note: Not taking into account your risk capacity, risk profile and uneven cashflow requirements (e.g. you might need=nursing care when you're old)

at
60/40 expected return (60 Equity/40 Bonds)
= (0.6*0.08)+(0.4*0.04)
= 6.4%
Inflation adjusted
= (6.4% - 3%) / 1.03
= 3.301%

70/30 expected return
= (0.7*0.08)+(0.3*0.04)
= 6.8%
Inflation adjusted
= (6.8% - 3%) / 1.03
= 3.689%

80/20 expected return
= (0.8*0.08)+(0.2*0.04)
= 7.2%
Inflation adjusted
= (7.2% - 3%) / 1.03
= 4.077

So using the non-capital depreciation model (meaning you never touch your capital) for RM 2M you can spend
per year
60/40 = RM 66,020 (can maintain 12.11 years of equity downfall without selling your equity)
70/30 = RM 73,780 (can maintain 8.13 years of equity downfall without selling your equity)
80/20 = RM 81,540 (can maintain 4.9 years of equity downfall without selling your equity)

So depending on the numbers of years of equity downfall without selling you can take you can
choose the asset mix.

If you are using the capital depreciation model (meaning you use up all your money) assuming you
live till 90 (you have to estimate a bit more since you might live longer)
60/40 = RM 90,785
70/30 = RM 96,418
80/20 = RM 102,208
Note: Calculated using a financial calculator and excel.

It gets a bit too complicated to calculate the years of equity downfall as I would need to create a table for this.

So it all depends on whether you are going to continue working after 50 as if you still have a source of income maybe a 70/30 mix or 80/20 mix, if you don't have a source of income, maybe a 60/40. Hard to say without knowing your financial goals.

You can sort of calculate the asset mix you need backwards based on targeted expenses but that would not
take into account of your actual cashflow needs and risk profile.

The numbers still will change if the assumptions change.

Please take note I didn't double-check my calculations on my spreadsheet and a financial calculator so I might have made some mistakes.

Disclaimer: I am not a licensed financial advisor. The above numbers are only for educational purposes and do not constitute professional advice. I have not taken into account your personal financial situation. Please seek professional advice from a licensed financial advisor if you would like a proper analysis.