I see myself in rather similar situation as TS...
- I am in my mid 40s, from mid 20s till now, been gainfully employed tax free.
- So after working for nearly 20 years, planned to retire early (maybe in another 4 to 6 years).
- I am financially independent already with no loans and no commitment.
- Life insurance premium on family member waived, wife had critical illness waiver (cancer) but thankfully recovered.
- All houses, cars fully paid.
- Only thing left is to see through my daughter's tertiary education in the horizon of another 6 years.

My secret?

Back in 2021 (same time as TS posted this thread), I heeded advice from Michael Burry and Mike Maloney. Inflation is going to burn with all the stimulus unemployment paychecks and Quantitative Easing. Instead of equities, I went all in into physical gold bullions. Even liquidated all insurance saving plans! Paid off handsomely and now I am in HODL mode watching all governments burn in debt....

Only gold is money, all else is credit - JP Morgan

All paper money eventually returns to its intrinsic value .....ZERO - Voltaire

This post has been edited by kslee79: Sep 15 2025, 06:25 PM

I worked abroad in Oil & Gas industry, in countries that is tax free. My work schedule is on rotation so I still get to keep my home and family in Malaysia, I go work every month or so, and come back to rest for a month or so. Zero tax in working country, zero tax at home (Malaysia).

There is something called a waiver rider. It is an add-on option, have extra 'cost' or premium to it. Usually if you use / buy such feature in a policy, you do a family round-up protection, i.e. if anything happen to one of us (a critical illness - my wife got stage 1 breast cancer in 2023), then my policy premium is waived for life and so does the rest of the family members. Premium waiver means the policy will no longer charge you the annual 'premium' payment, and the policy is still active (jalan). The insurance company essentially paid it off for you when it is waive.

This post has been edited by kslee79: Sep 16 2025, 08:39 PM

Not quite, I went in full with physical gold, starting 2021 by liquidating other savings/assets/saving plan insurance. Took 2 years to accomplish all that (buy some every 2 months or so), and it doubled my net worth in the span of 4 years.

You can imagine, in 2021 around Jan-Feb, a kilo bar was RM225,000. Today, it's RM500,000!

This post has been edited by kslee79: Sep 16 2025, 10:50 PM

True in a sense, it is just that I am not comfortable with stocks.

True what you said, a well paying job is the essential enabler here, else I wouldn't have the capital to go into gold.

Also, you brought up an interesting point. For those people who are passion-driven in their career - artists, teacher etc. It's sad that they will have a much harder journey towards FI, although I believe they will be happier and derive more satisfaction from their career.

Vocational jobs AI-proof, that's a big plus... have you check out the rates plumber charges nowadays???

I think Machine Learning is a viable field going into the future but I still believe nothing beats a pair of hands....

When I have time at the cashier (when doing shopping), I opt for cashier-in-person rather than self-check-out. Keeps a person employed, and having social interaction is better for daily living, especially for mental state of health.

About contingency plan - well, gold never fell to zero, unless you loose it. So carefully storing it (opt for private vaulting) and having it insured is one thing. Also, it is free from capital gain tax. Gold as an asset class is MONEY itself. Have a great track record for 5000+ years. No financial planner would advise you on it, because they won't earn any commission through that advice.

Ever since 1971, all currency are essentially fiat. Fiat is based on a government's debt and promise to pay. So, what quoted below is quite true:
Voltaire : All paper money will eventually return to its intrinsic value.... ZERO!
J.P. Morgan: Only gold is money, all else is credit.

When given a choice, all governments facing budget deficit and sovereign debt problem will choose to print to infinity.

So now, I am not really doubling down but just HODL (hold on to dear life).... if I need liquidity, might have to free up those bars by pledging to Lombard loans (like bank pawning) rather than selling. Once sold, will never be able to get back at the price level like in year 2021.

This post has been edited by kslee79: Sep 17 2025, 04:37 PM

It's quite a twist of things. Oil and gas as an industry had been stagnated for the past 10+ years. Past 3 years had been brutal with OPEC+ production cuts and outlook on global economy being gloomy (bad economy = less energy consumption). Even though the time off and rotation remained good, the pay is not what it used to be anymore. The job is really physical, sometimes on land oil rigs, sometimes offshore (yay, helicopter rides)! So, age is another factor....

I wish to retire by 50, which is just another 4 more years away, but maybe I have to put in an extra 2 to 3 years (and put up the the work until 53).

I guess you can say everyone has a figure in their head to be secured and comfortable with retirement, and preferably with a safety margin. One thing still I can't get is what to do AFTER retirement - maybe have time to explore real passion and interests...

Offshore or not, in oil and gas, USD5 to 20K a month is common, depending on roles, responsibilities, skillset and experience.

Retire early would be good for me, I know and it is very tempting. But years when I'm still able to work, I should utilize them too. My work is a bit physical, so the time frame isn't much. It is just my last push until I accumulate well into the 'comfortable' range of savings, a.k.a enough safety margin.

Previous sharing is that my wife had cancer back in 2023. Indeed, if retire early, spending time with loved ones would be my #1 priority. There's nothing more important than that since I spent half my time away from home already.