Keep it as property in Singapore will always appreciate due to lack of land and housing

Even if it is for rental it is still better than many properties in Malaysia for rental yield while Singapore will always be a renters market due to their open economy

Tax should not be any issue if you declare in Singapore as since you are retired and you can instead collect monthly why not give your tenant long term discounts by paying either quarterly, half yearly or yearly rentals as this would save a lot of time for it

Unfortunately it’s hdb so depreciate over time. It will still outlive me. Hahaha
But anyway the rental is good.

You’re right. I rent lower than market value and collect half yearly. Fly there collect 💰

Anyone close to FIREing in the next 18-24 months?
Or pivoting towards LEAN FIRE or BARISTA FIRE to speed things up?

Has your investment strategy changed much as you get closer to your goal?
Is the recessionary environment affecting your timeline?

Me. I am actually LEAN FIRE. I gave my Chinaman boss the middle finger and gave 3 months notice. Sick of being underpaid and exploited like a dog. I still work part time but not under current company.

Yes of course. Doing options help to speed up the process of FIRE. I welcome recession as it's great time to load up on cheap stocks. Nothing changes with my investment strategy. Continue buying the dip and buy more the deep more discount the market is giving. The more it dip the better. Wealth is build in a a down market.

I don't practice drawdown of portfolio so if my value of my portfolio tanks, so be it. It won't affect me at all. I am cashflow guy.

This post has been edited by Ramjade: Jun 9 2023, 10:57 PM

I agree that the current market environment is actually perfect for anyone FIREing in the next 24 months.
Discounted buys now is almost perfect timing if you plan to exit the rat race soon.

I'm naturally drawn to LEAN FIRE as a minimalist and thankfully, my gf shares the same vision and lifestyle.
But I'm realistically aiming for BARISTA FIRE to maintain a healthy cash flow and my sanity.

already FIRE'ed... nothing really changed in terms of investment strategy. Just prior to resignation, I aggressively optimize my "free" cash by pushing all available cash into EPF, which helps with passive income with at least 2% yield pickup vs FD.

If anything, the key to sanity is to make sure that your passive income (div or rental or interest, etc) can cover all your expenses. Then you don't have to worry about forced selling to raise funds to pay for expenses.

You can even do some "freelance" work for fun. I did try that for fun, but at end it is not worth my hassle to follow my friend's schedule and requirement.

Actually do you guys have retirement anxiety? How do you know you have enough to FIRE? I thought I have enough but then now looking at the economy and since I'm still relatively young, it feels like I can work a few more years.

The funny part is recently I have the anxiety that I may not live long enough... I already know of a few people personally in their 40s and 50s who passed away past 2 years... and I would not have think it is possible...

so in reality, the worry cuts both ways.... worry not enough time (would be a waste to chase for more money in this case) and worry not enough funds too (worry live too long and poor).

You know when your passive income is more or less your current expenses (if you are looking for lean FIRE) and more or less your current salary (if you are looking for enough). This is if you got passive income.

Now let us say if you got RM10m, can you finish the RM10m by living off RM20k/month? Unlikely. (This is if you practice drawing down your portfolio).

This post has been edited by Ramjade: Jun 9 2023, 11:44 PM

Yes true. After all we worked hard to FIRE right. While everyone was yoloing, we saved and worked. So now that we can FIRE, we choose to go back to work, then if gone, really wasted.

If I've got 10m, then I wouldn't be anxious at all haha. Unfortunately I don't. My expenses is definitely lower than my passive income, but my income is only half inflation hedged. I'm in the process of converting them but still too early to start buying.

Secondly, I am also anxious (partly due to yourself) that 95% of net worth is associated to the ringgit.

Part of my drive to FIRE is premised on living my best life while I'm still healthy, mobile, and lucid.
Life is short and tomorrow definitely isn't guaranteed.
So plan for the future but live the ever loving crap out of today!

For me I have no fear cause I got 5 levers.
1. Part time job able to cover more than my expenses.
2. My options income is 70-100% of my current salary (still serving my 90 days notice)
3. I keep reinvesting all my money into dividend stocks (my annual dividends are able to fully cover my annual expenses)
4. My dividends are all all growing between 5-15%p.a automatically (being conservatively here) which means if I don't inject new cash into my portfolio, my dividends will continue growing on their own.
5. All my assets are in USD, SGD, GBP, CAD. Only EPF and minimum RM amount to survive in Malaysia.

Care to share which dividends stocks are you holding?

I hold lots of stocks even those that are not dividend paying. Majority are now double digits return thanks to buying the dip.
AMD
Nvidia
Visa
BlackRock
Adobe
Google
Microsoft
Airbnb
Crowdstrike
Datadog
Snowflake
Tesla
Canadian National Railway
Union Pacific
Brookfield asset management
Starbucks
DBS
UOB
Micro mechanics
Legal and General
United plantations

I still got lots of stocks to add but they are not cheap hence I did not add them yet or buy more. Stuff like linde, equitable bank, Starbucks, blackrock, visa, microsoft, Canadian national railway, union pacific, crowdstrike, snowflake.

I used to be the guy who only buy dividend stocks. Subsequently I change my strategy to buy high quality stocks regardless of thy pay dividend or not. One of my metric is gross margin must be at least min 20%.

This post has been edited by Ramjade: Jun 10 2023, 02:18 AM

I just learn many sub category of FIRE. 😱I can live off passive income if I choose to but I still sit on the board of several Malaysian trade associations for free and also for a fee I sit on board of some Singaporean companies and although I’m inactive. Also get invited to give talks and seminars and webinars. What FIRE is this?

Interesting thread. Read a few comments and went online to google FIRE then found out as much as 6 or more types of FIRE.

Been trying to figure out which FIRE I am in. I guess I am just Regular FIRE. Not LEAN not FAT just Regular. Not exciting...

But on a side note, even though now I retire in Malaysia, I fear for Malaysia's future considering the political environment. Currently my assets are 75% in Malaysia and only 25% overseas. I am tempted to move more to overseas but stopped because of the low ringgit and the fact money in overseas harder to manage. My FDs in China being one of them... Also overseas portfolio harder to pass on to my beneficiaries should I one day unfortunately demise.

But I guess eventually I might start moving more to US market, easier to YOLO should I decide one day to migrate to another country.

US stock market been going up to near 52 weeks high with some stocks back to all time high. I exited my position before the NVDIA and Tesla rally... kicking myself since. Now waiting for a big crash which analysts keep saying will happen but never does. I guess I am just happy getting 4.5% return from IBKR...

Often most people can end up in between 2 or more FIREs.

Looks like you're basically a hybrid of FIRE and SLOW FIRE, where you're not in a hurry to retire and still doing just a few things.
Assuming your talks/seminars/webinars are income generators, you're also BARISTA FIREing.
Hope you're enjoying FIRE life either way!

If you are able to live off passive income and do what you like,.that's FIRE already as you are able to do what you like without worrying that you got not enough pay.

Then take action. I took action by starting to invest overseas and sending my money out during height of 1mdb crisis when ringgit was low and continue doing that till this day.

Don't be scared. What is low ringgit now will be even lower in the future. Never put money in a country with capital control and China is one of the country with well known capital control.

If you are worried about overseas portfolio difficult to pass to beneficiaries, invest only in sg. Highly not recommended as sarlet sucks to be honest..Just get a will done in Singapore online via moneyowl and you are good to go. Alternatively put your money in endowus or money owl Dimensional funds. They are structured in a way that they have no inheritance tax (dimensional funds). Both offer Dimensional funds. Both are in Singapore. But putting money into Dimensional funds does not generate passive income. It's more of drawing down your portfolio.

You are not getting 4.5%p.a from IBKR. First USD10k, does not have interest. Subsequent USD0.01 after the USD10k will get you the interest. Basically IBKR is earning free interest off the first USD10k in your account.

This post has been edited by Ramjade: Jun 10 2023, 08:11 AM