There was a similar discussed topic before, but the topic is closed now.

Starting here for me and others to share their experiences and their ideas about FIRE.

I am a single mum, and my only child schooling. I am in my late 40s, My plan now is going to FIRE.

I am not working already since last year because of the pandemic. And I don't plan to go back to work and will be doing my leisure things and charity works.

At the moment, my banking assets is around RM5million ( half in FD, rest in UT, KLSE). I got burn in KLSE this year because of gloves, and lesson learnt. I don't have any bank loans.

What i dunno what to do in my financials, should i look for a financial planner to help me plan?

What do ppl living in FIRE do with their money?

THanks

This post has been edited by frostfrench: Apr 2 2025, 11:37 AM

Hi,

A few parameters to define on your own for a quick evaluation :

1. What average yearly expenses vs your passive income generated from your investment / cash ? - Objective is to live off this rather than depleting into the funds / assets itself as best possible.

2. Medical insurance coverage to take care of the major financial risk

3. Your estate planning for your child (are you planning to leave him or her a sizeable inheritance or take the route they should be successful by their own self ).

A financial adviser can help you to evaluate this and form a plan , but bear in mind it's best you have already a plan of what you want, use the FA for his skill and access to the financial instruments to achieve what you want. Don't get pull in to what the FA wants to sell.

This post has been edited by mytrader: Oct 7 2021, 11:48 AM

You have 5million and if you do not wish to stress too much... dump all in FD also can get 100k per year at 2% p.a. Can live comfortably without touching your principal already.

But if you want to do more about it, do self contribution to EPF, can contribute to SSPN, can invest in some lower risk UT to enhance your returns.

Thanks for the quick reply,
1. At the moment my expense below my FD interest generate and dividend from KLSE companies.
2. At the moment my medical insurance still ok
3. When I pass, will sure leave all to my child .

Thanks for the quick reply,

Yeah, was thinking dump all in FD, but with such low FD rate, am afraid it cannot cover the living inflation. Thanks for the reminder to self contribute to EPF, I am doing that for the past 3 years and will continue to do so yearly.

Many congratulations to you on achieving FIRE. Much respect to you. I hope you have sorted out your legacy planning as well in terms of wills/trust. Nowadays with Covid, life is really really unpredictable.

with the concern of these scenarios,...
even with your banking assets is around RM5million ( half in FD, rest in UT, KLSE).

then not easy to be fully and surely have peace of mind when FIRED.

the below quick evaluation is to take note....

if you don't know the numbers,...BEST is consult a financial consultant to evaluate holistically to determine if you can fully and peacefully be FIRE

This post has been edited by MUM: Oct 7 2021, 12:18 PM

Assuming you live till 80 ...

5,000,000 ÷ 40 years = 125,000 per year ÷ 12 = 10,417 per month.

Put your money in FD and cont charity work.

DONT 'fall in love again'.

Hi, thanks for creating this topic. I'm 28 years old, was from finance background. Have been trading KLSE stocks quite actively in the past and I've lower 7 figures (liquid assets like stocks, cash etc) in MYR this year. Expenses wise, I do not have much spending (no house loan obligation), hence, interests from my $ will be able cover for my modest living lifestyle.

For now, I'm like semi-retired as in I do not have a full-time job, with flexible time to monitor stocks/do some research. It was good but recently started to get bored and feel like exploring more stuffs in life, for example charity works eg. like you mentioned. Would like to learn from you guys on the time allocation vs. stuffs to do/new venture - as in how to spend it meaningfully. For now, its more like watching videos, doing research, trade/invest stocks which are less satisfying after some time.

Would like to share with you some of my humble opinions too. Since your highly liquid assets is RM5 million. Perhaps based on your risk appetite, you can allocate them into two categories: Low risk vs Moderate/High risk. Low risk assets may give you consistent interest/dividend on a regular basis, and you can ignore the price volatility since you will be holding them in the long term. Examples: FD, Cash, Big Cap companies with consistent dividend yield. I used the word 'consistent dividend yield' is that, some of the companies like glove companies, you may see their dividend yield for this year is high - during their industry up cycle when they're doing well. But the industry is cyclical in nature, hence, they are UNLIKELY to provide you consistent dividend yield over the years. For low risk assets, you should avoid these kind of stocks.

On the moderate/high risk assets, it can be stocks, unit trusts or corporate bonds - they may generate higher returns, but the risk factor is high too. I noticed that your investment strategy is quite diversified as you invested in SERBA bond/sukuk too. These are considered high risk asset - with certain default risk. With a investment portfolio (low risk vs high risk) that suits your appetite, you can have less worry and focus your time on things you would like to do.

Regarding to your question whether a financial planner would be good for you, it is very subjective - depending what kind of financial planners that you meet. For some of them, they objective is to sell you financial products to earn commission, there is a conflict of interest. I wouldn't deny there would be good ones that may help you to plan properly. Alternatively, you can talk to those individuals who have similar kind of networth, they may provide constructive opinions to you too without much conflict of interest.

Would also like to learn from you on the charity works.

as mytrader mentioned, a Financial Planner will help you understand your finances better and plan out the route for you.

You were correct in diversifying to other instruments n not limit yourself to just FD. There are many other investment options worth considering.

You were wrong in trying to follow the herd n jumping into the gloves.

I think more important than a financial planner is to improve your knowledge of investment products n asset classes.

Won’t get burn by gloves shares so long as you’re able to hold long term and not liquidate it

As long as it is paying dividends just to ride out the capital losses

You need to stay invested in the markets, otherwise inflation will be an issue some ways down the line. Work out an asset allocation that works for you (I'd recommend 30% Bonds, 70% Equities), and just park your money that way, readjusting the allocation once a year.

My two cents worth.
I believe in passive investing with low costs funds, annual rebalancing and asset allocation depending on my risk tolerance.
Unfortunately the only person who truly have your financial interests at heart is your ownself. Financial planners that I interviewed before this rarely are fiduciary and the tools at their disposal have high upfront fees and expense ratio.
There's nothing wrong with dumping the whole amount into FD as the principal amount is sort of guaranteed. Just live within your means and you don't lose any sleep. OTH there is currency and inflation risk.
There might be a place for diversifying into another country/currency and other assets which might do better than MYR and beats inflation. It depends on your risk tolerance and your expected duration / legacy for your child.

I know of a retired couple (not myself, I'm still hard at work) who is in similar situation. They put 60% of their money in FD with several banks earning about 2.3% interest. Another 20% in principal protected but higher yield instruments like HLB CRAN (yield not guaranteed) and the rest in equity. Only can tell the results 5 or 10 years later whether good or poor choices.

As per all experts in the group said, A genuine financial planner might can provide you some financial planning to achieve your goal. You might can meet up few financial planners to have some comparison on their presentation and proposals and choose the MOST that can fulfill all your needs and objectives.

Another option that u can get some opinion from your bank Relationship Manager as well. I'm sure they are happy to assist you as sure you are their VIP.

Do some comparison and get some opinion from your circle of friends, then u can have your own direction to go for your destination.

Just my 2cents sharing.

As only about 4% of adults in this country have over us$100k net worth; hence, >96% people opinion on wealth management and financial planning is unworthy.

with rm5 m a.u.m, suggest you to approach private banking of maybank, ambank and cimb; they could provide professional and realistic advise. As everyone risks appetite is different, they could tailor options for you.

This post has been edited by icemanfx: Oct 7 2021, 04:33 PM

was surprised that you stated about 4% of adults in Malaysia who have over RM500k networth. I thought it would be like 10-15%.

Basically at your age, go for low risk instrument unless you are trader with some proper lessons and much research only go into stock market.

Since you have put 1/2 to bank FD and UT or maybe EPF? Which I think capital guaranteed is something you are looking at.

Last get the will (for distribution) and Trust on financial arrangement in the event of CI/TPD/Coma.

Then do charity work or gardening/ reading/ drama to kill your time.

As reported by i.b wealth reports, which is consistent with data from epf, bnm, khazanah research institute, etc. for reasons, households debts in this country is among the highest in asia; many lifestyles is supported by borrowing.

This post has been edited by icemanfx: Oct 7 2021, 05:16 PM

Or for themselves.

Principal-agent problem. Not sure of local private banks, in SG Swiss private banks, at least from one client I know, the bankers keep "encouraging" you to trade in and out to collect "fees". For buy-and-hold style investment, not much fees to be collected and that is no longer the most lucrative business for them.

The lesson here is TS should read up finance books and gear up herself with financial knowledge on her own. Don't follow others blindly, even if that means your FA, always ask for second opinion. It helps too if you have banker friends (not in client-customer relationship).