Yes - the bag has got to be in mint condition to fetch a good price.

If you have to go through someone else to sell it, you will have to pay an agent's fee (usually at least 25-40%). A lot of shops will take your bag and place ii under consignment which means you only get paid when they manage to find a buyer. Some bags can be under consignment for a few years until the seller decides not to sell anymore because they are already fed up by then!! So this hype about bags being sold for 30-50% more than their original price is all a myth. Chanel, Birkin and LV uses these kinds of hype to entice their buyers - i must say it is a very good marketing strategy!!

I tried explaining it to my wife but she counters me by comparing this with men buying cars (and in the process lose even more money). She is trying to justify women are much more wiser than men as women loses less on handbags than men (as men tends to waste money on cars!).

How to argue like this  ?

Definitely agree with you. My wife is already 59 (same age as me) and act like a young kid when it comes to handbags!! On other things she is quite sensible when using money but when it comes to handbags, she goes crazy.

In Sydney there are a lot of people involved in restoring old cars - in my area i see a lot of people doing it in their backyards. I don't know much about car restorations so i can't comment much. I see an old Rolls Royce Silver Spirit (probably around 1984) in someone's backyard near my place but that guy has not done anything yet (been sitting there for about 15 mths).

Yes - you are probably right. I don't see that car being driven at all but the car looks very cool!!

Over here in Sydney, there are quite a lot of cool cars. Due to the pandemic and having to stay at home a lot more, i have been looking at car reviews (which i don't normally do) of Porches and Maserati. There are a few things that i haven't done since my younger days and looking at car reviews is one of them but lately with the pandemic, i have been spending a lot of time on my laptop. Covid has changed quite a lot of things in my life (having to stay home more) - luckily financially i have come out quite well off (due to the payout). I see a lot of poor souls struggling financially nowadays and there are so many street beggars in the city nowadays!! Very sad.

Yes - i didn't realise family members are a big burden in Msia. Only found out in the last couple of years.

I have 3 siblings in Sydney (aged 65, 73 and one deceased) and all are doing okay (one is on the aged pension while the other is quite wealthy).

I have 4 siblings in KL and they seem to be all struggling (though they are all 70+). I give them a little (like a few hundred ringgit once every few weeks) and they all look to me like hungry chicks. They were all financially quite okay 10-15 years ago. Two of them have children but never dare ask their children for money - probably feel malu (or maybe feel siblings are better to rip off). Two of them are on their own.

Helping close family seems to be a way of life in Msia - might have to polish my skills to say no when relatives ask for money in future when i retire in KL  .

My deceased mum left me quite a lot of inheritance and told me my only obligation is to help my 71 y.o. sister who is unmarried.

I try to help others wherever possible as I have quite a generous personality.

Wow. Your aunts are all quite well to do.

My sister never goes out of the house except to get food and never socialise with neighbours - i am the one who goes around chatting with all my neighbours (when i am back in Bangsar on holidays). I love to socialise esp during morning walks, i tend to chat with other people. The only thing is previously i was only back in KL for about 6-8 weeks (2-3 times a year) so the time spent in KL wasn't enough to really know people.

You were mentioning that you restore cars - where do you keep all your cars that you are restoring? Do you have a special place for keeping the cars?

Shit! You must know your cars very well.

I can't imagine myself doing all that at my age. Kudos to you 

Terasek in bangsar? Yeah they all pretty old..Some of the wooden roof truss even got attacked by termites.

But that area (and TTDI) is an enclave for complete house make overs..Some are really very outstanding ...

Basically it boils down to : 1) budget 2) taste....of these neighbourhoods

Ya - loh.

All the wooden frames on the door frames have to be changed. Even the toilet doors were rotting

The wood on the roof seems okay as someone came to check the water tank guy and he mentioned the wood is still quite solid.

Roof tiles have been there since late 1970s so probably needs to be replaced.

A lot of my neighbours still have not done any renovation on their houses - they keep the houses neat and tidy but they are all mainly old people. Cannot see younger people at all on my street - all the residents seem to be old folks 

Actually i like Sri Penaga opposite Bangsar Shopping Complex - looked at a smaller apartment in there and the compound is beautiful. Looks like the price has dropped quite a fair bit there (judging from asking prices in iProperty) since 12 months ago.

I was thinking of investing in another condo once i retire but now with the outlook in Malaysia looking so bleak, i am having second thoughts 

I believe the regulations have changed in the last couple of years. I can confirm this as firstly I talked to the owner and secondly I did work on some plans for new development. 4 storey is the max permitted... that is OFFICIALLY permitted. Malaysia being Malaysia if you grease the right palms you can do 50 storeys no problem but that's a little out of topic...

KL is growing more developed and we will see many high rises soon in addition to what is already here. I admit I have mixed feelings as I like the kampung feel of the old KL.

I think i will need about rm10k/mth for me and my wife. We won't need to pay rent/mortgage and car loan - just need money for food/groceries, fuel and utilities. Possibly budget a bit for helping siblings.

I don't know if rm10k/mth will be sufficient as we are quite thrifty.

Just finished my breakfast.

I am allocating half of rm10k/mth to food (groceries/meat/vege/fruits) and eating out. The more you eat out the less home cooking you will need (so less meat and vege) - rm5k/mth

Utilities (unify??, electricity, mobile phones (wife and myself), Indah water/Selangor water, DBKL assesment) - rm1,800/mth (MK condo is about rm500/mth maintenance and rm270 electricity)

Car running costs (fuel, road tax/insurance, touch and go, car wash) - rm390/mth

Personal hygiene (new clothes, shoes, shaver) - rm 100

House repairs (maintenance of condo interior, new fridge/appliances, plumbers, electricians) - rm 500

All the above comes to about rm9k/mth.

I am also planning to buy a new Toyota Vios or Altis when i go back - we only need one car for us as my wife hates to drive.

I have not actually live long term in KL and cannot tell if the above may be realistic or not 

Anyone care to comment?

I am a retiree and my only vice is food. I would probably eat out a fair bit and i will probably have my sister(s) join me. When i am on holidays in KL, I used to eat out with 3 of us at air-conditioned restaurants (Ming Rm BSC, Antipodean Bangsar Baru, Din Tai Fung Mid-Valley, Imperial Grand BSC) and it normally costs rm100-rm130 for lunch. Say we go out 3 or 4 times a week to eat outside, that would come out to be about rm500/week or rm2k/mth. I think to budget rm5k/mth is quite realistic as my wife sometimes like to buy sea cucumber/seafood to cook. Also, i am always the one to foot the bill when other relatives join us for meals. When i am on my own, i will usually eat at kopitiam or the cheaper end meals but when i am with my wife (she hates hot places as we have lived in Sydney for 30+ years), we will probably eat at better restaurants.

I have been analysing people's expenditure in /k and i have observe most people spend about 35-40% of their month expenditure on mortgage/rent and car loans. I won't have these 2 on my expenditure lists.

Is there anything else i might have missed out on my expenditure list? I haven't actually stayed for long in KL each time i go back so i am only guessing this may be my expenses.

In Sydney, i currently need about A$40k-A$50k/yr (no overseas travel) for my current lifestyle.

I think we will be using the private hospitals - unlikely we will be using govt hospitals.

I haven't factored in medical expenses - this will have to come out of my contingency fund, i guess. At the moment, we are very healthy with no real health issues but we can never really tell. Health problems will definitely increase and creep up upon us when we least expect it