why not? you already stated that 5% return from 4 million = 200K.
Your spending is 120K rm max pa. The 80K extra is to be reinvested.

how long do you expect to live? just put it all in a excel, and you can even input 3 to 5% inflation rate on your spending and see the profile of your cashflow upon reaching terminal age.

So many rich people here. Passive income = T20 household income without working. Everyone's dream.

I wont get it now, but I will get it in the future. It's call dividend growth investing. It's passive. Few bloggers/YouTubers I follow are not getting like 8-10%p.a in dividendd on their apple or Microsoft investment. If you are conservative, can aim 3-4%p.a with 5-7%p.a dividend growth. Lots of such companies.

Work for it. Save and invest. It can be everyone dream. You can't get passive income if you don't put your money to work. Of course can YOLO now and work until retirement is also another option. Your choice. I choose to invest when I was still a student. I make mistakes. Just because someone stumbles and loses their path, doesn't mean they're lost forever

Till today I am living on student budget and invest all my salary. That's why I can tell my boss to f*** off. Enough working for a Chinaman company that overwork and underpay and doesn't even want to spend on medecial insurance for staff because of LEAN FIRE. Sacrifice that I make years ago is now bearing fruit.

I wasn't born with silver or gold spoon. My parents are not business people and do not know anything about investment other than FDs. I was self taught.

Purpose of this post is you don't need to be rich to have money. Yes being rich is an advantage. Anyone can do it. You need savings, sacrifice and consistency.

This post has been edited by Ramjade: Jun 22 2023, 12:08 PM

It is not enough because your kid is still form 1. still got 10 years to go. You won't know how much education cost or how long it takes or what he wants to do.

If you plan to send overseas then ringgit depreciation be a problem in 6-7 years time. I'm not thinking positively on the ringgit so I might be wrong.

He might need to draw on his savings. That's why for me I feel EPF and ASM is not the way to go. Not that I am freelancing, I won't even bother with Epf apert from tax relief but rather invest it myself.

This post has been edited by Ramjade: Jun 22 2023, 12:29 PM

you guys now saying 4 mil not enough to retire if got 1 kid... lol...

I spend estimated RM130k for my eldest from form 1 to form 5. then about RM450k for university in japan. that was 5 years ago when the ringgit was not so bad. Unfortunately the ROI is not even 0.1%

With hindsight would u rather spent only 100k on local education, and use the balance of 480k to invest for your eldest?
With so much competition in job market around the world, I think few can find expensive education a good ROI.

This post has been edited by MGM: Jun 22 2023, 01:18 PM

I would not. My eldest now enjoys her work. It is her hobby. Earns in Yen and USD but I don't get a cut of it. hahahaha but nvm as long dun ask money from me can already.
I can also tell you local education are way behind other countries especially in science, medical, AI, robotics, industrials, etc... The m'sian government just don't support these areas and don't fund it. For this reason, my son is funded by the Switzerland and German universities to research for them. The result of his research will never be Malaysian.

Only 1 downside : eldest in Japan, youngest in Europe. 2 old mum and dad in M'sia

That's good life...

many never even could earn 4 million in their 2 lifetime, and suddenly someone have 4 million cannot retire already.

reality benchmark really went off.

Sorry I tot when u said 0.1% ROI u meant your eldest r getting paid lowly. So for your case, both children overseas education were well spent. I suppose it depends on individual, some overseas trained get low pay while some local educated can get high pay.

RM5M would be an ideal goal for fully passive.

It all comes down to:
- how achievable that goal is
- what you're willing to sacrifice along the way
- what age you get to that goal

But, if given the choice, would you choose:

1. FIRE at 50-55 with passive income from RM5M
OR
2. Barista FIRE at 40-45 with passive income from RM2.5M plus active income from 2 hrs a day max.

No need think positively when history shows that RM will depreciate more in the future 🤦‍♀️ already off the high since this year Feb and can never regain that unless major structural changes in the financial and economic sectors in Malaysia

as you grow older, every 1 year of working really boosts the saving.

so i would choose option 1.

20k a month to spend is irresistible if only 5 year is needed to get that 10k extra per mth passive income.

My concern is that we FIRE too early and estimated short on what was needed to retire fully to only go back to work at 60-80 coz they found out the passive/money they have would not be able to sustain them till their last days...

RM5Mil seems to be coming up as an ideal number in which if inflation double up 2 times in your remaining years.

Basically halving your purchasing power 2 times to from 5mil --> 2.5mil --> 1.25mil... I think i stiill can live on passive from 1.25mil on my last days...

Agree that not many can achieve this amount in their lifetimes, so we end up still might be holding a lesser stress free job supplementing our passives.

Here then lies the crux that money again drives and compels us to work, would we not then be considered achieved "financially independence" in this case?. Most people i know who achieved FI/RE, they are not concerned about money because they know they have enough to sustain themselves or their family.

Best is if after deducting annual expenses and your networth still growing at >= inflation rate without fail, unless something drastic happen.
Just need to preserve your wealth n teach your family about it.

This post has been edited by MGM: Jun 23 2023, 09:00 AM

budget 1 mil for medical + 5k/month for you n spouse for 30 yrs = 2.8 mil

2.8 mil in epf at 5% div = 11k per month passive tax free income... more than enough for most ppl...

5 mil is not realistic... but sure, chase if you can

ppl i know who are really successful, money is not their primary motivation... also they do no FIRE because they love their job and perhaps power and influence that it brings...

as parents we always want the best for our kids... i give mine the freedom to choose... lucky they all choose local... lol...

kid's education is sunk cost... never to be recovered... but the motion/experience is priceless...

What if it took an extra 10 years? Or longer?
Would you ever regret the time lost pursuing more passive income over enjoying more of life or time with loved ones etc.?

Great points!

I almost lost my life years ago and I've lost everything financially - twice - at 32 and 40.
Those experiences have reshaped my perspective on work/life balance and FIRE greatly.

I've completely reconfigured the concept of retirement in my mind.
The default notion of birth, school, work, retire, die - just doesn't make any sense to me.

We can all probably agree that having more money makes life easier.
But life is relatively short and our time alive is never guaranteed.

Plus, my needs/wants will diminish greatly as I get older so my lower expenses and rising inflation should form an equilibrium.
I also won't have either the will or the strength to pursue what I enjoy today as I age.

I would be completely ok with going broke when I'm older, with less mobility or mental acuity.
But I wouldn't be ok with missing the opportunity of living more of life with less money earlier if given the chance.

FIREing is a great goal but I believe it shouldn't be absolute.

Slowly cutting down on work over time towards FIREing is one option.
And/or staying active while you LEAN/BARISTA FIRE also present more achievable and sustainable alternatives.

This post has been edited by blingless: Jun 23 2023, 10:36 AM