Can I FIRE?

[HumHum22]

A term insurance is usually for dependents in case you pass away or get permanently disabled. Since you have no dependents then there are no real needs for term insurance. Something like a disability insurance that pay you in case you can no longer work make more sense for you.

I thought term insurance can pay for the later stage of cancer? Mine includes critical illness.

 

[HumHum22]

It's going to be really tight. The most you can safely withdraw from a $300k portfolio is about $6k-$9k a year.

The other thing I'd say is: aren't you going to be a bit miserable? You've still got 40 or 50 years in front of you, and you're going to be living on twenty bucks a day for all of that time. By any reasonable standard I'd say that's below the poverty line.

Hello master. I'm learning from your investment strategy. I'm also learning from AK71. Not sure whether you've heard of him.

 

[HumHum22]

Thank you all for your valuable responses. I've a question regarding Singapore stock market. How strong or good can the Singapore market sustain for the next 10-30 years?

 

[hwmook]

Thank you all for your valuable responses. I've a question regarding Singapore stock market. How strong or good can the Singapore market sustain for the next 10-30 years?

Singapore stock market is not that great, too heavy weighted by property and Telco, both industry which won't do well in the near future.

 

[BBCWatcher]

with bond ETF, i thought may or may not get back full principal?

That’s possible, although it’s quite unlikely with a long enough time horizon. It can happen if interest rates progressively rise over your holding period.

 

[ykeen]

Today's article

https://www.todayonline.com/world/how-retire-your-30s-s137-million-bank

 

[rrr2015]

thanks ... guess this still not for me .. still prefer to stick to CPF + FD + SSB for bond allocation

That’s possible, although it’s quite unlikely with a long enough time horizon. It can happen if interest rates progressively rise over your holding period.

 

[ocs_woodlands]

Wi-Fi =$39? You can get 300mbps fibre for $29.
Utilities $89 for 1 pax is high.
Toothpaste etc for $15 per month? More like $5.
See doctor once every 2 months? That's very frequent. I don't even see doctor once a year.
Nobody buy newspaper nowadays.
Toilet paper $5 a month, you got diarrhoea everyday?

I can easily cut $100-150 off your estimate. You are overestimating the basic needs. I personally can survive on $600 a month.

Ok lah... then let me go into even more details..

Of course it's not toothpaste $15 per mth. You chose to ignore the facial cleanser, shampoo and soap.

Give you a $10 off for the Wi-Fi lah... maybe you can say rely on wireless@sg

See Dr once every 2 mths is of course frequent for a young chap. But I am sure you are aware that on average, a male Singaporean can live up to about 80yo. How frequent do you think you need to see a Dr at the age of 65?? Remember we are talking about a kind of life that's sustainable till you draw your last breath....... not the kiddo few months or even a few years. It's decades...

I did not include red bombs, white bombs, replacement of spoilt goods (The fridge will die. The kettle will rust. The ceiling fan will conk too.....)

Insurance? I guess you might say you will never need to get hospitalised

And let's hope that you don't ever need to help your parents for health care matters

 

[hwmook]

Ok lah... then let me go into even more details..

Of course it's not toothpaste $15 per mth. You chose to ignore the facial cleanser, shampoo and soap.

Give you a $10 off for the Wi-Fi lah... maybe you can say rely on wireless@sg

See Dr once every 2 mths is of course frequent for a young chap. But I am sure you are aware that on average, a male Singaporean can live up to about 80yo. How frequent do you think you need to see a Dr at the age of 65?? Remember we are talking about a kind of life that's sustainable till you draw your last breath....... not the kiddo few months or even a few years. It's decades...

I did not include red bombs, white bombs, replacement of spoilt goods (The fridge will die. The kettle will rust. The ceiling fan will conk too.....)

Insurance? I guess you might say you will never need to get hospitalised

And let's hope that you don't ever need to help your parents for health care matters

When you got no income, you get CHAS so you pay every little for medical care.

If your kettle rust then you better get a better one next time, my parents one 25 years never rust at all. Fridge, fans can last 10 years easily. Give you $10-20 a month as replacement fund lor.

I know of someone who went into ICU, heart stop but eventually managed to save, stay in class C ward during whole duration, after all the subsidies, medishield etc paid $10000 from medisave. If you live like a peasant, you do not need all those expensive ISP. If you need to die like a long then go ahead and pay.

 

[ocs_woodlands]

When you got no income, you get CHAS so you pay every little for medical care.

If your kettle rust then you better get a better one next time, my parents one 25 years never rust at all. Fridge, fans can last 10 years easily. Give you $10-20 a month as replacement fund lor.

I know of someone who went into ICU, heart stop but eventually managed to save, stay in class C ward during whole duration, after all the subsidies, medishield etc paid $10000 from medisave. If you live like a peasant, you do not need all those expensive ISP. If you need to die like a long then go ahead and pay.

Like all things in life, the true test is in eating the pudding. This shall be my last post on this matter.

I leave the folks to think and decide if one can live on $600 on a SUSTAINED basis (defined as till end of life) in SG

 

[BBCWatcher]

I leave the folks to think and decide if one can live on $600 on a SUSTAINED basis (defined as till end of life) in SG

Even assuming constant 2018 real dollars, it'd be difficult and not fun.

 

[havetheveryfun]

Even assuming constant 2018 real dollars, it'd be difficult and not fun.

Yes but working is difficult and isn't fun either for some

Thats why some would rather take on the difficulty and "un-funness" of living on $600 a month compared to continue working...

of course the ideal scenario is to switch to a lower stress job which you enjoy for a lower income and then use that $600 a month as supplement income. Sadly, even if you are willing to take a huge pay cut, it is also not easy to find a job you like nowadays.

 

[BBCWatcher]

of course the ideal scenario is to switch to a lower stress job which you enjoy for a lower income and then use that $600 a month as supplement income.

Yes.

Sadly, even if you are willing to take a huge pay cut, it is also not easy to find a job you like nowadays.

I find that tough to understand, but perhaps I'm predisposed to happiness.

 

[Toni90]

Like all things in life, the true test is in eating the pudding. This shall be my last post on this matter.

I leave the folks to think and decide if one can live on $600 on a SUSTAINED basis (defined as till end of life) in SG

TS only said he living on 600 NOW lah. Never said till end of life one.

 

[lifeafter41]

It's going to be really tight. The most you can safely withdraw from a $300k portfolio is about $6k-$9k a year.

The other thing I'd say is: aren't you going to be a bit miserable? You've still got 40 or 50 years in front of you, and you're going to be living on twenty bucks a day for all of that time. By any reasonable standard I'd say that's below the poverty line.

6k to 9k from 300k seems to be on the low side.....

 

[BBCWatcher]

6k to 9k from 300k seems to be on the low side.....

Not when shutting down one’s income that early. The classic “4% rule” is probably too high and is based on a U.S. context (e.g. U.S. dollar investment gains and costs), a traditional/classic age 65 retirement, and current life expectancies. None of those important assumptions apply in this case.

If you’re bridging at least in part to a CPF LIFE Escalating Plan monthly payout from age 65 or preferably from age 70 — and it has to be the Escalating Plan since you’d have little or no defense against inflation otherwise — then the math is a bit easier.

 

[SBC]

Good to build up at least 80k of buffer fund on SRS.

 

[tangent314]

SRS is useless for anyone planning to retire immediately.

 

[grenoble]

agree with the rest that it will be good to have a bit more buffer as backup ,though noted that you will take on jobs of interest which will still supplement your income along the way.

Secondly, since u already know how much u need to survive on minimal basis, that doesnt means you have stick with that throughout. Try to budget for around 1k a month, if you really have nothign to spend on, then just save it.

when you found other things that brings you satisfaction and contentment, you dun need to use money to attain the same effect, that the power of substitution. People can go on a endless chase for the dollars, but there will ALWAYS the next bugger with the bigger car, bigger condo, bigger plane..so you will feel hollow again once the marginal propensity decrease and the returns diminishing, (rich blokes have their fair share woes which we cant relate too, and is also caused by money ie surrounded by malicious people only interested in his wealth etc) which is even harder to cure/ reverse.

There are some exceptions though, ie people like bill and melinda gate, they have a bigger purpose (personal satisfaction) to help the less foruntate with their wealth ,etc

The beauty of FIRE is to side swipe consumerism and dail down on the satisfaction acheived thru use of money, money should be sufficent for just daily necessities. It encourages pursuing satisfactions from non-monetary terms/intangibles with the time gained.

Majority cant reach the global top 5% of riches even spending their entire lifetime chasing it (if that is their satisfaction) , why not make a simple mindset change and you could attain the same level of satisfaction, with the additional time gained ( early retirement) , you effectively purchased time, We all know for sure there are a few things in life we cant reverse, your birth, time and gravity.

But then again, if you are not pursuing something meaningful to you at Retire Early, and just rotting around, i dun see much meaning to it then, you just hate your job tats it.

 

[BBCWatcher]

Majority cant reach the global top 5% of riches even spending their entire lifetime chasing it (if that is their satisfaction)....

No, that's just not factually correct -- and it doesn't require any particular "chasing." The majority in Singapore can and do reach that lofty perch.

Let's start with income. According to the World Bank, global GDP per capita in 2017 was US$10,714.47. GDP per capita in Singapore was US$55,235.51 in 2017. According to the Ministry of Manpower, median gross income from work of full-time employed residents, annualized, was S$50,784, or about US$37,000 at an exchange rate of 1.37. That strong income base if you take advantage of it is powerful.

OK, that's income, the fuel for wealth accumulation. Wealth is even more heavily skewed in favor of Singapore and Singaporeans relative to the rest of the world. In fact, according to Oxfam a total net worth of US$770,000 would put you in the global top 1%. If you "merely" acquire paid up equity in a (heavily subsidized) HDB leasehold and a respectable but certainly not outsized CPF balance -- the classic middle class combination in Singapore -- you would easily rank among the global top 5%.

So I call b.s. on this sort of defeatist thinking. Simply find something you enjoy doing -- and I also call b.s. on not being able to find anything that you enjoy doing in one of the world's great cities -- and then enjoy life much more than most of the rest of humanity.