Hi all. A very good informative thread for FIRE. Thank you very much OP for starting and others for sharing! Just curious, to open up a SG bank account, what bank is recommended and easy to open for Malaysian? All can be done online, I assumed?

Just an older perspective to TS - have the end-goal in mind, eg. Estate planning.

All the moving about to US / SG / etc brokerages & accounts - ensure it's worthwhile for your Will's Executor to file/execute your Will in those countries and retrieve
+
relevant Estate taxes, even if SG brokerage, it can be US Estate Laws U'll face like 45% taxed on anything above USD $60K.

Personally, i've moved my stuff back to "easier & cheaper" for my Will's Executor to perform their duties with less or no estate taxes.

Of course there will be some smarter folks saying to share userid & password with another or joint-account but.. look into the details and probabilities ya. Executability when needed +legality + impact.

Note - i'm 49 this year and based on the local brokerage charges / fees on dividends, no biggie based on the amount i'm transacting. Thus, the end-goal is more important to me for my family. When younger, yup all those cost are quite a big % impact thus worthwhile to have accounts like OptionsXpress, TDAmeritrade, etc.

No absolute right / wrong ya - just sharing what i've done & thought - different strokes for different folks & different stages of life.

This post has been edited by wongmunkeong: Oct 8 2021, 08:09 PM

I can vouch for the rates and overall quality of Sunway Money - just be noted that you need to wait a few days for your beneficiary to be verified, even if that's yourself for the very first time.

I been using them more than a year plus. Replaced instarem because it's too expensive.

Exactly the same reason why I don't invest a lot in SG. Moving your money back to MY AFTER your death could be an issue if your kid is not familiar with financial products.

I think one have to be careful of following blindly another's stock/reit/bond etc recommendations.
First, work out what's your timeline ie. duration of your investment.
Then determine your risk tolerance ie. the amount you're willing to see your investment drop without selling based on emotion.
Thirdly work out your asset allocation as this will determine 90% of your returns ie. Cash:Fixed income:equities ratio
Then decide on the MYR:FOREIGN CURR distribution.
During this time of self discovery, open a cimb SG online account and IBKR, endowus, fsm etc. depending on how much time you want to spend monitoring your investment and expenses you are willing to pay.
Transfer via Sunway money.
Distribute your money locally and overseas determined by your earlier local:overseas and cash:fixed income:equities allocation.

Live to enjoy your retirement and quality time w your child.


I believe the most difficult part in the whole process is not the opening of accounts and allocation of your asset. It is the discovery of one's inner psychology/relationship with the meaning of money eg. loss aversion, FOMO, greed and fear etc.

If one is not in old age, a solution to mitigate estate tax is to buy life insurance to cover likely estate tax amount. Your friendly r.m has other solutions e.g family trust.

This post has been edited by icemanfx: Oct 9 2021, 01:42 PM

We are fortunate that No Estate Tax in Malaysia yet. As an estate planner, family trust is good where u transfer all the money and properties to a trustee company b4 pass on. But really for Ultra High Influence market to build the financial wall or some other financial problems.

UHNWI have more options.

Estate tax was abolished as it taxed helang and Oren Kato the most; unlikely to reintroduce except people like Tony Pua at mof.

This post has been edited by icemanfx: Oct 9 2021, 03:23 PM

Made millions from crypto?

Is 1 million usd aka 4 million myr enough to retire at the age of 26?

My concern is that the buying power of 1m usd will reduce a lot in 30 to 50 years, due to money printing, inflation etc.

This post has been edited by sagethesausage: Oct 10 2021, 04:23 PM

If you can achieve 4m at age 26, you shouldnt stop what you are doing.

Your concern is unfounded. You assume inflation can grow, but your 1m USD can't. Money invested in a right way can outgrow inflation easily.

I would do that if you’re know how to earn enough lifetime passive income instead

Don’t concern too much about things that you cannot on control but learn to grow more lifetime passive income instead

This is the misconception and misunderstanding most people have.

the 1 million usd or 4 million ringgit is not just going to stay idle and do nothing. One is supposed to deploy the funds smartly to earn above inflation return while living off it.

Great to see so many feedbacks and suggestions.

Hopefully, will see more individuals, leave their comments here what they do about their finances when they are FIRE.

For this moment, I will move some money into SG into SG Reits. Will still keep big portion in MY FD

Instead of putting FD, you be better putting into MMF for quick liquidity with better compounded interests

I think instead of fix deposit, money market fund - you can also consider to do private placement

Private placement yes but how fast withdrawal and liquidity is the question as not all MMF are quick liquidity

if you have a few millions and if you only put a portion of it in private placement, it will be very very unlikely you will face something that require you to spend a few millions immediately.