Looking back at more of our expenses, I realised there was a substantial chuck that didn’t go into my monthly expenses calculation in my how to save more money for retirement post. These were ad hoc spending such as surprise gifts, birthday celebrations, vacations etc that totalled up to be more than what I thought. At my count last night, there were more than 10 designer bags that cost between SGD3-5k, 8-9 designer watches that cost a couple of thousands each and holidays that went into high 5 digit figures. Totalling these up, I think the spending on these ad hoc stuff came up to SGD100k. Wow!

Also, at an early stage of our careers, I had agreed to buy the RX8 because wife liked it. We paid 128K for it and an additional 10k for the interest. That car has been paid up but it is gone now. So, we spend 138k on something that had no value after 6 years. Brilliant!

If I added up the ad hoc spending and the car, we would have almost SGD250,000 sitting in the bank right now. Assuming a 4% compunded interest, that would get us close to SGD300,000. We could have paid the down payment for a mickey mouse condo unit in District 9, Singapore with this money. But we didn’t. So, I hope you realise that financial planning is about making correct decisions. We didn’t planned our finances carefully and the result is plain for anyone to see. Sure, it is nice to get compliments from friends about the new bags, watches and car, but it did really nothing in terms of giving us our financial freedom.

Hence, I came to the conclusion that if you want to retire early, you need to change your perspective about consuming. A lot of expenses and debt that we carry are no more than articfial wants created by savvy marketers or social pressure. Learn to look through that and we will have a more happy and less stressful life.

Real happiness to me is having the freedom to do what you want to do. No constraints. It doesn’t matter to me if the things you are doing are meaningful as long as you enjoyed them. Most of the time, you will realise that buying more stuff is not something you can really enjoy. The moments of happiness will only last during the time you are buying the items and the times when you receive compliments. Most of the days, these stuff are just lying in our house or at the carpark. What a waste of money!

At first, when I heard that I need to live in frugal ways, my thoughts ran into images of me staying at home and only eating leftovers. However, as I read more and more early retirement blogs, I realised that it is beyond that. Living in frugal ways means exercising more creativity in terms of using your money as well as learning to appreciate that the best things in life is actually free. Things such as spending more time with family, chiling out with friends, appreciating nature etc all cost very little money. The only thing that needs expenses is traveling and good food. Even that, I am sure I can think of ways to let me enjoy these activities without spending too much.

So, I took a long look at my expenses and realised they are actually quite messy. In my article on how much I need for early retirement, I published some numbers. Looking back on these, I realised I missed all the miscellanaous expenses that were actually quite substantial. I also think I need finer details to know where I am spending excessively. So, this is a relook at my monthly expenses:

• Housing mortage: SGD2,600 (SGD1,000 paid by wife)
• Condo maintenance: SGD400
• Money to parents: SGD700
• Electricity and water bills: SGD170
• Internet and phone bills: SGD80
• Taxes: SGD115
• Food (normal): SGD400
• Haircut: SGD30
• Public Transport: SGD160
• Car: SGD900
• Grocery: SGD50 (my wife pays most of it)
• Entertainment: SGD50 (mostly movies)
• Restaurants: SGD400

Total expenses: SGD6,065

Monthly salary cannot cover monthly expenses

The biggest problem for me right now is that my takehome is only SGD3,500 because I work in a startup for stock options, rather than money. This creates a big problem. I have an income deflicit of SGD SGD2,555. Luckily, I can use my cpf to pay SGD1,000 for the mortgage but that still leaves me with a gap of SGD1,555.

Currently, I am using my online income to filled this gap but what if my online income disappears? Then I will be in a super bad shape. This is why I need to find ways to trim down my monthly spendings so that my monthly income can cover it.

How to save more each month

Looking through the items, most of them are fixed such as parents allowance, taxes, condo maintenance, mortgage etc. Some other items that can potentially be reduced included the car loan, food and utilitises bills.

Saving money option one: find a new job

Find a new job. That is the most easy way out. If I can get a job that has a takehome pay of SGD5,000, my total expenses will be covered.

Saving money option two: sell the car

The biggest expense is the car. If I sell it, it will a SGD900 reduction in expenses. Coupled with SGD400 reduction in food and restaurant expenses, I can easily reduce the SGD1,555 deflicit. However, the tough thing is that my wife is used to driving the car to and from work. Selling it would be a big inconvenience for her. Really shows how sometimes, the most logical choice might be the hardest to make.

Saving one option three: cut all unnecessary expenses

For option 3, I will keep the car but reduced more expenses in other areas. For food and restaurant expenses, I will try to reduce by SGD500 instead of SGD400, as shown below:

• Food (normal): SGD400 , SGD100
• Restaurants: SGD400 , SGD200

How about doing all three options

Of course, the best choice is to combine all three options and have a net savings of SGD1,700. Saving this amount over a 10 years period will yield a SGD250,000 savings, assuming a 4% investment return. That amount is sufficient to pay for the downpayment for a mickey house condo unit in District 9. Assuming a 20 year loan of SGD650,000 at 1% interest rate for the condo, the mortgage will be around SGD2,900. With a monthly rental of SGD4000, I can earn SGD1,000 in passive income just by executing the plan above.

So, will I do it? Probably not. I might be able to cut down my food and beverage expenses but selling the car and getting a new job will need major discussions with my wife.

This, in a nutshell, is why so many of us failed at growing our wealth. We incurred heavy expenses and we are not decisive in excuting what is right for us.

Born in Malaysia

I was actually born in Batu Pahat, Johor, Malaysia although I came to Singapore since I was seven years old. My parents decided that I should study in Singapore due to its higher education standards and the use of English as the first language. For that I am eternally grateful as everything I have now might not be possible if I never leave Malaysia.

Having stayed in Singapore for more than 20 years, it is strange that I never felt inclined to retire in Singapore. Maybe it is the stressful environment or the emphasis on material wants, but I never felt carefree and comfortable here.

How much I need to retire in Malaysia

I did a simple budget on how much I need to retire early but that is based on the assumption that I would do a lot of traveling and had to finance my condo. If I was to stay in Malaysia more and travel less, the money I need will be very different. Let’s look at some numbers.

Mortgage payment: A nice bungelow in Malaysia will cost about SGD250,000. Assuming a 4% interest rate, a 90% housing loan and a 30 year payment period, the monthly payment is about SGD1,000. These new bungelows that I saw in Johor is really nice. Most of them came with 4-5 rooms that have their own attached toilets. Some of the bigger units even have gardens.

Car payment: Assuming a SGD15,000 car that has a 6% interest and a 10 year payment period, my car loan will be only around SGD165. Amazing!

Petrol: SGD100 should cover it well as prices of petrol is much cheaper in Malaysia due to the fact that we produce our own oil.

Utility Bills: SGD 150 should be enough to cover electricity, water and Internet. Prices are much cheaper in Malaysia for these basic necessities relative to Singapore.

Food Expenses: SGD500 will cover you nicely for food and entertainment. A typical meal at the coffee shop or hawker is about SGD2-3. A meal at the most expensive restuarnt for 2 is around SGD50. So, a SGD500 budget is more than enough to get me good food if I don’t cook at all.

Insurance: Medical fees in Malaysia is very cheap especially in the public hospitals. This is why I don’t need as much insurance coverage compared to when I am in Singapore. SGD50 should cover it.

Parent’s allowance: SGD700 which is more than enough for them to enjoy lifestyle in Malaysia.

Total living expenses: SGD2,265

For only SGD2,265, I can stay in a big house, drive a normal car and eat out most of the time if I want to. That is so different from Singapore where for the same amount, I would probably be living a much humble lifestyle.

Why retire at Malaysia

There are a couple of pull factors that make me want to retire at the country where I was born.

• Low cost living: Living standards has been pretty low in Malaysia although the flux of Singaporeans to the country has inflated the prices of many good and services. Fortunately, the big ticket items such as cars and real assets are still relatively cheap when compared to Singapore. For example, a bungalow will cost around SGD250,000 to SGD500,000 in Malaysia while it might cost at least a million dollars in Singapore. Cars are even more cheaper as my mum just bought a new car for SGD15,000.

• A more relaxed environment: If you avoid the busy cities such as Kuala Lumpar, most of the cities in Malaysia are pretty relaxed. Not only there, there are plenty of beaches, templates, food places that I can visit when I am bored. This variety of choices makes Malaysia a much more interesting place to retire in.

• Different types of living options: In Malaysia, I can choose what Singapore offers: apartment living,  However, there are other options that I can consider if I hated that kind of living. A beach house is definitely a possibility. Bungalow living is another form of option that I can consider if I want to live in a bigger space. In fact, I can even live in farms or mountains if I desired such a lifestyle but I don’t. The point is there are many more options on how you want to live in Malaysia due to its larger land size and the different natural landscapes.

Can I retire at Malaysia if I am not a Malaysian

Currently, there is a programme called Malaysian second home that allows a foreign to stay in Malaysia for 10 years. This is a programme that is designed to attract foreigners to stay in Singapore. There is no rules that you must owned a property in Malaysia to qualify for the programme but you are not allowed to work during your stay here unless you are over 50 years old.

If you need more facts about retiring in Malaysia, click on the link above to find out more.

There are obvious different ways to retire early. Most will go the route of saving enough money that will be slowly drawn down along the way. Some of it might be invested in an interesting bearing instrument such as a bond or a CD. This is not my preference. I prefer my nest egg to be untouched by generating a monthly income for retirement that can be used to finance my living expenses.

When it comes to generating a monthly income, there are a couple of ways you can do it.

1. Online income from blogs or websites
2. Part time or free lance jobs
3. Dividend income
4. Stock investing (or any forms of investing)

If you have read my early retirement plan, you will know that I prefer online income from blogs or websites for the simple reason that:

• They cost very little to start
• The income can be easily maintained with only a couple of hours per week
• There is no ceiling on how much money you can generate
• The income is consistent

I am currently generating about USD2.5k through my websites and blogs. These web properties were developed in Sept of 2009. It had taken me 2 and a half years to know how to make money with them but the hard work is worth it.

Imagine if I need to earn the same amount of from method 1 to 3 above, this is what I will need:

Generate USD2.5 from part time of free lance jobs

Earning USD2.5 from a non permanent job is very possible. A few odd jobs here and there can easily achieve that. In fact, there are so many free lance jobs that doesn’t even require you to leave your home such as writing assignments, website development etc. However, the income is not passive and feels almost like any job.

Pros:

• Doesn’t requirement any upfront investment
• Can be scale up according to how many hours you want to work

Cons:

• The incomes stops once you stopped working
• There is a natural ceiling on how much you can earn due to limited hours in a day
• No guarantee of continuous job assignments
• Doesn’t feel like retirement

Generate USD2.5 from dividend income

An average dividend portfolio can yield between 3-7% per year. For the portfolio to yield USD2.5k means I need to invest USD1 million to USD450,000.  Assuming I can invest about USD2k per month, it will take me around 41 to 17 years to retire. The actual number will be less if you reinvest your dividends to buy more dividend stocks.

Pros

• Less risky portfolio when compared to generating income from websites and blogs
• Very liquid assets that can be easily sold if you need money in a hurry
• Completely passive once you have made the investments, However, efforts are required on the beginning when you do the due diligence for the dividend stocks.

Cons:

• I will be more than 55 years old by the time I hit USD2.5k with dividend income. That means no early retirement.
• USD2.5k is actually not a lot of money and will not allow me to retire in comfort.

Generate USD2.5 from stock investing

I do know of stock traders who can earn much more than USD2.5k in their stock investment. However, it is a very active form of money making as they capitalise on daily news and market movements to earn their keeps. I was never a big stock investor because of the risks and the non dependable income.

Pros:

• Can make lots of money within a short time frame if you know what you are doing

Cons:

• Capital intensive
• High risks
• Income is not consistent unless you are able to time the market every month
• Non passive as stock investment requires a lot of your attention if you want to earn USD2.5k consistently every month
• Successes cannot be duplicated. If you bought some good investments and sold them for a profit, it is not 100% certain that you can buy such good investments again with the money that you have earned.

In summary

I prefer building websites or blogs that will generate a monthly income for me consistently once they have aged. I like it as it is semi passive and you need very little costs to get going.

None of my plans have anything to do with a early retirement package from a company. Such packages all long gone from Singapore. We are a country based on meritocracy and there is very little practice of social security. Basically, we are on our own and we don’t expect our companies to provide a good package for us to retire early.

I have developed 3 plans which I have already put in place. The reason for having 3 plans is for emergency purposes. In the event that one plan does not go according to what I forecast, there are other backups waiting to take its place. Of course, in the lucky event that all 3 plans are realised, then I will be a very happy man.

How to plan for early retirement – Option 1

Invest in a property that will, over a long term, appreciate and give me enough returns to retire early. This is the reason that we have decided to purchase a SGD1.7 million condo in District 9 in Singapore. This is prime district and prices will only appreciate. Don’t ever invest in non prime areas because this is when you are gambling. Always look for the best that money can buy because in the long run, your investment tend to be safer and gives you the best returns.

Our expectation is that prices might reach SGD2.5 million in a ten year framework. By that time, we would have repaid some part of the mortgage, thus leaving us with about 1 million in outstanding loans. The difference of SGD1.5 million will be our funding pool to carry us to old age.

Out of the 1.5 million, 1 million will be invested in a safe instrument such as fixed deposit that can hopefully yield a 4% annual return, which is about SGD40,000. Another SGD150,000 will be invested in buying websites that can gives us SGD100,000 per annum. The combined SGD140,000 income will be our income streams that can finance our living expenses without touching the base capital.

The remaining SGD400,000 will be used to purchase a nice property in Malaysia where we intend to retire to. I really look forward to staying in a big bungalow after being cramped in apartment living in Singapore for so long. Many people don’t realise it but we don’t have to retire in places where we grow up in. The entire world is our home now and we are free to live where we want.

Observant readers will realise that this plan means that I can only retire at 44, and not 40 since it requires a ten year holding period. I do intend to retire at 40 but this means that I need to rely on option 2 to finance my living expense while waiting for another 4 years for this plan to realise!

How to plan for early retirement – Option 2

The second option is to develop and to purchase a portfolio of web properties that can generate a monthly income for us. This is something that is not the norm so allow me some time to explain how this works.

It started when I was frustrated with the current returns that I am getting from the existing investment instruments. A dividend paying stock typically only yield 3-5% while an index fund might range between negative to maybe 8% if you are lucky. Using these numbers, you need a lot of capital for my investment portfolio to give me 4 digit monthly income. I don’t have that much capital given my mortgage commitment so I had to find another way.

That is when I stumbled upon the concept of making money from websites or blogs. At first I was rather sceptical. After all, how can making money be possible with so little capital? Nevertheless, I was curious and given the low investment, I decided to give it a go. The initial cost of setting the site was only the domain cost (around USD10) and hosting (which is around USD5 per month). I made nothing in the first month but I earned a whooping USD7 in the second. Although the amount was small, the fact that there was money flowing out from the blog I created was magical. It was the first time that I realise the web economy has indeed changed how one can make money in the world.

So, I push forth and added more content and also created more sites in different topics. I got to 3 digit income within the next year and 4 digit income by the third. The cost of maintaining the 4 digit income is pretty low so 80% of that revenue becomes my profit. I didn’t expect such fast results but they came and it make me look at the world very differently now.

Hence, my second plan to retire early is to increase the online income from my current sites to around USD5k per month and to buy sites from others for an additional USD5k per month. With the combined income of USD10k, it should be enough to cover our living expenses when we retired at 40.

Currently, I am doing around USD2.5k per month and I expect to hit the USD5k target by end of 2013. In terms of website purchase, I have already bought a couple of sites that have returned about USD1.1k per month. The amount invested to purchase these sites was around USD15k. In terms of investment yields, it is about 88% per year. That is insane returns! This is why I can shortcut my way to early retirement if all goes well.

Of course, there are risks involved which I will talk more about in later articles.

How to plan for early retirement – Option 3

Join a startup company that has a chance of growing big. I gave up a government job that is paying me well beyond SGD6k per month and 6 month bonuses to work in a startup that has lower salary but with stock options. Such a compensation arrangement only make it worthwhile if the company grows fast and your stock options become super valuable.

This is a high risk path to take for my career but is something that I find to be totally worth it. My logic is simple. I will stay with the startup for a maximum of 3 years. If things go well, I will be rich by then because the company is growing fast. However, if things turn sour, I will lose 3 years but I can still get a job after that.

For a chance to retire early, I am willing to bet on 3 years of my career. 3 years is a short time. 99% of the jobs out there will not allow you to retire, even after 10 years! I will be just dragging my life along and hope that I can strike lottery to retire. This, to me, is totally not taking charge of your life. It is the classic case of going with the flow and in the process, drowning out any chance of living a outstanding and happy life.

Summary

After 1,200 words, I hope you can better appreciate what is my plan to retire early. Everybody will have different plans of course but the important thing is to have a plan!

Don’t let life drown you out

Being a numbers person, let’s look at his numbers and analyze why I cannot never do it.

On first glance, there is a big difference but let’s look at the details.

Mortgage: The biggest difference is that I have a huge mortgage while Jacob doesn’t have. I don’t treat this as an expense but as an investment. Property prices in Singapore is similar to major cities such as New York. We have very limited land but a rising population. This pushes the prices up, almost every year. As a personal example, I bought my first public housing apartment at SGD200,000 in 2004. I sold it in 2011 at SGD390,000. That is almost a 100% gain  within 7 years. Hence, by investing in a SGD1.7 million condo today, I expect to be able to sell it at around SGD2.5 million in 10 years, with a remaining loan of around SGD1 million. That cash intake of SGD1.5 million is part of my strategy of being able to retire early and in a comfortable condition.

Jacob doesn’t have this expense but that also means he doesn’t have an upside. I don’t really believe  in not making your money work for you. It might be tougher now to finance the investment but the returns will be worth it down the road.

Rent + utilises: Rent is relative cheap in US if you don’t live in the major cities. I am afraid this is not the case in Singapore. A small room in the furthest reach of the country will already cost you around SGD500. It is fortunate that I don’t pay rent as I have my own condo. However, there is a heavy maintenance fees that I need to fork out every month, although I get to enjoy facilities such as swimming pools, tennis courts etc.

Food: Jacab has his own garden which we don’t. We don’t have enough land for us to grow our own stuff. Having said that, I will not do that even if I can. I enjoy food and I don’t mind paying more to enjoy what I love. Jacab might say this is wasteful but I would say that this is enjoying life.

Hobbies and Car. I don’t spend on any of these. Cars are super expensive and I intend to use my fully paid up car to the max.

Internet: All I can say is that Internet charges are more expensive in Singapore.

Dog: I have none.

Parents: This might be an Asian thing but we do give our parents allowance so that they can live more comfortably. I don’t see Jacab mentioning this anywhere so I assume this is a US thing.

After looking through the numbers and understanding why I can’t lived on USD7000 per year while Jacab can, let me tell you why I dislike such extreme retirement plans:

• No plans for investment: Investments are instruments to help grow our wealth so that we can have a better living standard. Foregoing this spending just to retire is financially unsound and is something I will never do.

• Limit on what you can experience: Retirement without the freedom to experience what you like is limiting to me. The purpose of having more time in my life is so that I can do what I enjoy. If I don’t have the money to do that, what do I do with so much time? In the food example, if I had to forgo the different restaurants and food outlets just so that I can survive on salads everyday and save money, it is not retirement.

• No mention of income creation: My plan to retire early is to build up a portfolio of income creation. To me, that needs to go hand in hand with savings so that your retirement can be more fulfilling. You need to have both time and money to do what you want such as traveling, or start a side business or do charity work. I dislike the extreme retirement approach where you only focus on the spending aspect where you try to cut out as much unnecessary spending as possible.

In summary, extreme retirement is possible but you are sacrificing your future income growth and you are placing a limit on what you can really experience. That approach is not for me. This is why I set up this blog because I have my own way to retire early.

As I said:

early retirement is about taking control of your life and creating processes to make it happen.

Each one of use has around 28,800 days to live assuming we reached the age of 80. That is it. only 28,800 days to live! When I first saw this number, it was sort of a wake up call. When you measured things in years or months, they seem to be less urgent. However, when I saw my live expressed in days, I realise that it is not a big number at all. The worst part of it is I have already spent 12,240 days of it,  leaving me with only 16560 days to live. Taking away say 1,800 days where I am too old to do anything, I am left with only 14,760 days.

14,760 days to live!

Only less than 15,000 days to live and most of it will go towards a job that I don’t really love? No. That is not what I want at all. This is my wake up call. I need to take control of this precious resource that I have left only so much of.

In a nutshell, this is what early retirement is about. It is to do with taking back what you have given away freely. When I signed up for a job, I am trading away my life for a few lousy bucks. My time is suddenly not mine. It belongs to somebody else. However, time is the most precious thing that anyone can have. You can always earn more money but you can’t earn back time. Everybody knows it but the point is not always driven deep enough to realise the implications.

I am not a qualified financial planner nor am I some retirement guru. I just have a plan and I stick to it. Sometimes this is all you need. A determination to break away from what you know is not right and to formulate another path to where you want to go. Your early retirement plan can be a savings plan or it can be a income generating plan like mine. It doesn’t matter. You just need a plan to take control of your life As they say, failure to plan is to plan for failure and we all don’t want our lives to be a big failure right?

Remember, you have only 28,800 days to live. Make the most of it!

Here is my breakdown of the expenses. You need to do this for yourself if you want to prepare for early retirement. Know EXACTLY where your money is going into.

• Housing mortage: SGD3,600
• Money to parents: SGD700
• Electricity and water bills: SGD170
• Internet and phone bills: SGD100
• Condo maintenance: SGD400
• Food and entertainment: SGD700

Total expenses: SGD5,670

Once I have this expense number, there are two routes I can take to know how much money I need to retire early.

Option one: How much to save to retire early

The most common option is to assume one’s lifespan and multiple that by your monthly expenses, adjusted for the inflation rate.

In my case, assuming I lived until 80, I would need SGD5,670 * (80-40) * 12 months * 1.04% (inflation) = SGD2,830,000. This is the amount I would need if I retired at 40.

Frankly speaking, I will never be able to save that kind of money by 40, not by a long shot.This is not a viable option for me at all.

The more observant reader might comment that if I sell off my property, I need much less than that. I agreed but having this property is an important part of my early retirement strategies. I will explain more in a future post on this.

Option two: Create multiple income streams to replace loss of income

I need to create income streams of at least SGD5,670 if I want to retire early but doesn’t have that kind of savings to last me through to my old age. This is exactly what I am going to do and my advice is for my readers to start this as soon as possible because the time factor can help you in so many ways.

I will talk more about my multiple income streams but in a nutshell, I hope to create additional income though

• Niche websites
• A side directory business
• Dividend income
• Rental income

Some might say that I am still not retired if I need to maintain a side business. That is technically true but I am at least retiring from my job and doing something I really like.

For the financial advisors out there who says my method is too rough, I have to agree. However, I am not drilling into budgeting. This is a broad stroke to let me know roughly how much money I need to retire early. The numbers will not that far off.

Here is a checklist of what I have thought about. You can have a different checklist depending on your lifestyle. In fact, I am curious to see what things I might have missed since I planned to retire early.

• Support from partner: This is very important. There will be ups and downs during the early retirement process. I need my partner to be there in case anything goes wrong. 

• Take stock of my monthly expenses: As mentioned in the about me page, I am an analytical person by nature. I look at all the financial numbers that my household generates at weekly intervals. This has made it a bit easier for me to know how much I spending per month. Before you can retire early, you need to get a handle on your spending figures. You cannot imagine how many people don’t know how much they spend, much less the type of spending category.

• Forecast any future increase: Plan ahead to see what kind of expenses might suddenly pop up. Major categories include having children, parents retiring, house repair, car maintenance or new car purchase. This is the part where I try to be as conservative as possible to include any expenses that I might need to recover during my retirement phase.

• Create an emergency fund: I prefer to keep a year’s expense as an emgency fund. Some might argue that 6 months is enough but I am too conservative for that. I need to make sure that in case anything happens, I have a year’s buffer to let find a new job or to create additional incomes streams.

• Take stock of my monthly income streams: I don’t intend to spend our savings during our early retirement. This can be achieved by creating multiple income streams that are independently from my day job. Some might called this passive income while others might said side income. To me, it doesn’t make any difference. All I need to know is how much I need to generate and from sources. Many Singaporeans are unaware of the fact that it is now possible to make money online if you know how.

• Check my insurance: This is to cover for any major black swan events that can potentially wipe out my emgency fund in one go. I need to prevent this from happening so this step is cruical.

What did I missed from this checklist? Do you have a early retirement checklist to share?

The challenge I am facing is my wife’s  unwillingness to settle for frugal living, which is how many early retirement blogs achieved their results. This creates an interesting problem and one that I need to find a solution to. I hope what I have learnd from this journey will benefit you if you faced the same early retirement situation as me.

Most of my friends had no concept of early retirement and had plan to work until they reached 60. Those who have thought about it did nothing to step closer to their dreams. I guess this is part of the Singapore culture that we grew up with. We were taught to be good managers and engineers. We were not taught to be creative and to pursue what we really want with a vengeance.

If you are new here, I welcome you to get to know me better by reading the ‘about retire by 40‘ page. You will get to know what kind of person I am and why this blog deserves your attention.

You can also start by knowing my early retirement plan and how I intend to achieve it by creating multiple income streams. I firmly believed that relying on the income from your day job for early retirement is not going to be enough. I don’t believe in saving a lot to reach early retirement.

Finally, if you are interested to know how you can have a early retirement, at least in Singapore, here is a budget that I did to calculate how much I need to retire early. You can look at the numbers and see if it is something that is achievable by you!

I really you enjoyed your stay here. More importantly, I hope this blog will inspire you to retire early and do something that you are really passionate about.