According to reports, less than 0.4% of adults in this country have over us$1m net worth.

IMHO, even at USD$1M net worth, may not be enough due to:
1. extreme "gravy wanted" / lifeSTYLE
2. net worth includes non-$ making items like home, cars, super bikes, yatchts (?!!), etc.
3. ever inflating lifeSTYLE due to more income, instead of tapering off once certain comfort levels have been reached

I read with great interest this thread. I have pondered for a long time whether i should put in my perspective about Financial Independence/ Retire Early and i have finally decided maybe i should.
I have lived and worked in Sydney for just under 40 years and plan to retire next year (in Msia). I can continue to work if i want to and can add about A$60-70k/yr extra to my retirement fund if i decide to work longer but i have decided not to as i have no kids and my wife also has some retirement money having worked to 50 herself.  If i retire next year, both our retirement assets can generate a minimum of RM14k/mth (based on a conservative 3% return). If i work another few more years, this figure will probably go into RM20k+/mth and all my friends (and relatives) are telling me not to stop as i have a very cushy job and know most things like the back of my hand.
I ask myself how much money do i need to be in 'happy' in retirement? My wife has always been pushing me to retire as she thinks that we have quite sufficient funds to retire in Msia. I have been researching this passive income subject for a long time and how much is 'enough' as my relatives are saying that i am making a big mistake by retiring at such a young age (in Sydney most people continue to work and don't stop because of the cost of living is so high).
After a lot of analysis and research, i find that this happiness (about how much passive income we need so we will be satisfied whether we plan to retire or not) is very strong connected to contentment. I am an easily contented person (in-built in my personality) and is satisfied with the simple things in life (although my weak spot is food which is what i think will take up most of my retirement expenses).
Just my 2c worth of reading for a Sunday morning.

6% consistent passive income is not a figure easy to achieve.
Also, there is no guaranteed that EPF payout will be 6% as well.

EPF shouldn't be taken into consideration for FI at the moment, as you can't touch those money until reach retirement age.

Not aware of this, thanks for the head up.

Hello. I'm 22. I do not have much knowledge on FIRE. I saw some replies on FIRE but I have no idea, can someone briefly explain to me? I would really appreciate that!

In life, if you are a very frugal/thrifty person, that is an extremely healthy attitude to adopt because later on in life when your income drops you will not be greatly affected by this dilemma because chances are you will have assets accumulated in the earlier good days - this is why people say 'make hay while it shines' because you will get periods in your life when it doesn't shine esp when you get older and is 'over the hill'. The term 'live within/below your means' makes great sense when it comes to achieving early financial independence which enables you to stop worrying about money matters later on in life.

I am 56 now but if i had known about all this, i could have afforded to stop work a lot younger - when i was young, nobody taught me all this and i have always associated the word thrifty as 'being a loser' in my younger days. Now i can see how wrong i was.

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.

Not true. Well in my case.

I am still spending as if I am still on student budget even though I am working already.

Is all about discipline to achieve what you want. Will is everything.

I think generally humans like to associate with friends/relatives who portray 'strong confidence' in themselves in the hope that one day they will be like that. Now what are the traits of someone who displays 'strong confidence in themselves', you may ask? Most people associate the term 'confidence' with being 'successful'. This brings us to the question - what are the traits of a successful person? You will see that in human behavior that what people see in someone who is successful is usually associated with material things - like an S-class Mercedes (less than 2-3 years old, not 20-year old), wears a Rolex Day-date with diamonds on the bezel and dial, wife takes a Birkin/Chanel/LV. Usually people don't know what kind of house you live in (free-standing bungalow, terrace or unit) but they probably judge by the suburb you live in (Bukit Tunku, Taman Duta, Pantai Hill,..). Now if you possess those assets and flaunt them, you will have many friends because they view you as being successful and they want to be like you! Things like humility/humble, honest/trustworthy and nice personality is viewed as less important because you may be worth rm50mil but because you don't flaunt your wealth (because you are humble and you may view this as being the important thing in life), you will be viewed as being less likeable than the one who flaunts his wealth (even though the one who is flaunting may be surviving on borrowed money). This is just the follies of modern human being and no-one can change this.

thank you so much!!       

FI RE D - Financial Independence Retire Early Done

so i have decided to be fired and need advise from all here. Please only valuable advise.

1. Quit job 17 August 2018 (one of the most stressful workplace)
2. Managed to pay of car and house
3. 1 Kid
4. 1 wife
5. Passive income from interest rm3500
6. No bad habits
7. KWSP 800K (cannot touch for 15 years)
8. Other savings rm600k (including benefits & insurance termination from company) -- in process
8. Other income 7k pm
9. Healthy
10. Family expenses pm rm3k-4k
why quit? too much stress and empty promises.

what am i considered now? jobless? or retired?

plan to just reinvest the cash and generated interest. Waiting for the payout which plan to just put in FD or ASNB ( 4-6% interest ) 2-3k pm

Consider generation of monthly income rm3500 + 7000 + 2500 = 13000

with my current expenses only 3-4k pm, can save up another rm10k pm but some months indeed have other expenses like insurance or etc which i say maybe rm10k per annum. so saving per year approx (rm13k-4k) x 12 - 10k = rm98000 and again to be invested in safe deposits to generate interest.
did i make a wise decision?

Well for me,  very simple. Seeing my account grows and money coming in without working is extremely satisfying.

People look forward to paycheck every month as they are living paycheck to pay check. I look forward to it so that  you chest is refilled and I have more money to invest

Know what you want and work on it and be happy with it as you are responsible for your own action.

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.

you are right.

To be really FI/RE at a young age of 45 and below, you would need much more if you are married with several children still in school/college.

Those, me inclusive, who were talking about retiring a few years earlier than the mandatory retirement age were talking about retirement in general.

To be really FI/RE, I don't think working part time or having a business that doesn't require your presence all the time counts as 'retirement'.

FI/RE is possible if your spouse is working!

1. The impression I got from reading the pages of this thread is that the Retire Early age is around 40 years old. So my hypothesis is based on RE at 40 years old. Not 55 or 60. If it was 55 or 60, my hypothesis does not hold water

2. My hypothesis is that FIRE is a advocation/teaching/belief. If the advocation/teaching/belief is so widespread, until it reaches a point where 30% of the workforce are aiming for it and achieving it, then my hypothesis would sadly become a reality. The economy would be in critical condition

9. My hypothesis does indicate that RE before official retirement will hurt the economy, society and country as a whole. If you look at the macro level

3. Taking your smoking example as the analogy of my hypothesis. FIRE is actually like smoking habit. If everybody believe FIRE/smoking is good, and everybody practise it, then it is not good for the society

4. You are making an assumption here "working" and "other things" cannot co-exist. "other things" being investment, raise kinds, charity works, writing books.

5. Working doesn't take up all your 16 hours of active life.

6. If it does, then you may want to think of changing your job. It is not normal. And it is detrimental to your long term life.

7. We must find out the root cause of the problem, instead of finding get around to the problem. If your current job makes you think FIRE is the solution, then it is just a "get around solution". The root cause of the problem is your job. Go solve the root cause of your problem by finding a job that don't take up 16 hours of your time, and at the same time gives you job satisfaction.

8. A good job is a job where you look forward to Mondays, not fearing Mondays   

10. If a person can RE at age 40, he must be a talent. He can achieve something 20 years earlier than a normal people would.

11. Those corporate minion would not even retire at age 70 because they are the plain old vanilla.

12. Scientists are the cream of the crop. If they believe in FIRE, then there will be no more humanity advancement

I think part of the reason capitalism works has got to do with the allure of riches , including the freedom that comes with it. If there is a "law" preventing early retirement and hence ”preventing loss of productivity".... I am sure the drive to excel will be much less across society ..in short, why accumulate wealth if one can never ever stop work if he wants to?

Another point I would like to make is - I think only a small number of people can achieve full financial independence by age 55.... an even smaller % can achieve at age 40 to 45... the % is so small that it is negligible to productivity

Again thanks for the link that “inspire” my economic hypothesis 

Just like you said, you expect people not to agree with your hypothesis and I do believed you can accept my comment about why I am not agreeing with your hypothesis

Bro ramjade has his own way of life 

His choice which I guess is due to upbringing, and I respect that. I for one, can't live like him...

For any investment, if you want to know how to minimise the cost, he is the best person to ask. And he is always willing to share