Dreamer, living on 2k/month for a family of 4 is quite an achievement. Mind sharing the breakdown of your expenses?

I know you excluded house & car loan (I think you've paid those off already) but even so, 2k/month is very low.

If I add up my essentials (excl house loan, car loan, insurance) the total would be:

Utilities - RM200
Groceries / sundries - RM900
Petrol - RM250
Maid - RM500
Eating out - RM1,000

That's already RM2,620. This is for a family of 4 (2 young kids).

Going off tangent for a moment...

Much has been written in this thread about the frugal lifestyle of millionaires. Indeed, while many millionaires live humbly there also those who splash a lot thus giving rise to the high roller lifestyle - flying first class, staying at luxury hotels, buying fancy cars, owning a big house, etc.

Which comes back to the point of why do people then strive to be rich? Most youngsters would reply "so that we can afford all the nice luxuries of life". And yes, part of being rich is to be able to afford to indulge (at least a little). After all, many of the wealthy have more income than the essential expenses. So they have lots of savings. What do they do then with these savings?

Is it kept aside for retirement? For the next generation? For philanthropic purposes?

Where does a person balance between living frugally and indulging a bit more?

Is it any use to have lived frugally and died with millions in the bank (which you can't take with you)?

I understand your point about freedom and security. However, it's not true that "you can choose live in what ever way that you want". Depending on your savings you'd still need to be conscious of your budget to make sure you have enough to last (for whatever time frame you planned for). For example would you say you have sufficient freedom to live a very indulgent lifestyle for the next 30 years if you chose to? Absolute freedom is a rare dream, freedom within certain ceilings is quite attainable.


Yes, I too predict a big recession coming.

From your tone, I suppose one of your goals in accumulating wealth is to weather rainy days. Which is a wise thing to do. Again, I agree that having peace of mind in troubling times is good to have. How much you need again depends on what kind of lifestyle you want to maintain during times of recession.



The "years of savings", is it calculated by amount of savings divided by yearly expenses? Is there any recommendation as to how many years of savings a person should maintain?



Only 2.

It is an achievement because it takes discipline and the right mindset to live below your means or to live frugally in this materialistic world. How many people, especially the younger ones, can do that? It takes effort to refrain from overspending, it takes effort to live a more frugal lifestyle, and when you do succeed I think it's an achievement.

This post has been edited by jchong: May 2 2008, 11:00 PM

I would say that through your experiences you've found that time is more precious than money so that is what you strive for. The money is just a way to attain the time you want.

Any business field can be lucrative. Depends on your potential to make it succeed.

That said, some business fields have more potential than others.

Business owner is known only to those who know him. There are many business owners out there whom I'm sure you don't know. Bump into them on the street also you cannot imagine who they are.

I dun get it. What is different about sarawakian?

Thanks for sharing Jean72.

How does UT provide passive income? I thought if got sale then only get commission. If you don't have new sales then no new income. Whereas isn't passive income supposed to mean the income will come in even if you don't work (e.g. property rental).

Check his past posts and decide for yourself.

Ur still young what! So maybe something better is in store for your future!