Hello Grasshoppa,
What is FIRE Movement & what is it all about? My personal understanding of FIRE Movement comes from Mr. Money Mustache but after further research, I realized that it was originated by Vicki Robin who is the author of Your Money or Your Life. It is part of my bucket list books to read but I have yet to buy since I have another 20 books to finish. LOL. Financial Independence, Retire Early is a movement or goal for someone who is looking to achieve early retirement with comfortable financial independence. It is definitely a popular movement among many people especially Millennials.
The question is, is FIRE Movement Possible for Malaysian?I think it is definitely achievable for all but certainly there are some adjustment that each of us need to do to suit us. I’ve been following & listening to Invest Like A Boss Podcast for over 2 years & honestly there are bits of their lifestyle that inspires me to hop on to the FIRE Movement.
Overall FIRE Movement focus on extreme savings by finding ways to increase income & reducing expenses with the goal of achieving early retirement. In another words, the more you save the faster you can achieve your early retirement. Another focus on FIRE Movement is on generating passive income by investment income, rental income & more. It is all about getting out from their traditional job & able to enjoy their life to the fullest. In order for them to achieve this, some of them goes to the extreme to live on 20% of their annual income.
Personally, I am looking forward to achieve my early retirement & I’ve been working on this goal for few years since I got out from my huge debt. My past experience on having huge debt have changed my views on financial planning & the cycle of going through 9-5 job can be tiring sometimes although I love my job & my life. Achieving early retirement is a goal that I set so I am able to travel more around the world while generating extra income from my investment & business.
What have I done so far on my FIRE Journey?
1. Keeping Commitment Low
My current commitment is a condominium that I bought 2 years ago. Honestly I don’t plan to buy it but the housing location excites me & I believe that I’m able to sell it or rent it for better price in the near future. My 11 years Naza Suria loan have been paid off few years back & I don’t plan to buy a new car anytime soon unless my car is unable to move anymore.
2. Keeping My Expenses Low
Some of my friends knows how frugal I am. I rarely hangout & I would rather stay at home to save money. It may be a bad thing but I think its gonna be worth it in the future. My average spending goes a lot to my food & I do try to minimize the expenses by eating food that’s worth the price.
3. Save & Invest My Income
Currently I’m living on 40% of my income & I always seek to save more whenever I can. 60% of my income will be invested into my house, cash savings & investment.
4. Seeking More Side Hustle
In order for me to achieve Financial Freedom & Early Retirement, I have to replace my current 9-5 job income with my income from investment, social media, business & blog. Currently my side hustle contributes 30% of my total income.
Conclusion :
How soon can my Financial Independence & Retire Early happen? How soon do I plan to stop working? What are the age I plan to retire? Im 32 now & I don’t plan to quit my 9-5 job anytime soon. My goal is to retire by 40 years old & most probably by then I’ll be quitting my job & travel the world. As for now, my focus is to climb the corporate ladder, stay fit, stay healthy, stay invested in my life & financially.
Whenever I talked about being frugal, many people think that it is impossible & it looks cheap. Don’t get me wrong. Being frugal is not being cheap. It’s all about creating certain budget & spend within the budget. Personally I still “belanja” my friends for a drink or meal sometimes. I still eat & buy whatever I want within the budget that I’ve set for myself.
Now the question goes back to you. Do you think FIRE Movement is possible in Malaysia? I personally think we can as long as we have plans & we execute it accordingly. There are certain sacrifice that you have to make but end of the day, it will definitely be worth it.
OSS!
