Retire@40 Target Update

After some changes to jobs and multiple resignation attempts later, I'm happy to announce that I've managed to retire at age 46. As of this post, it has been 185 days since I last worked (although my status of employment is still a mystery to me at this point..... it's a long story). 

My last day of actual work was 7-Jun-2023. And in this 6 months or so, I've managed to travel solo to Taiwan and Nagoya Japan, and explore Ipoh Malaysia and Penang with my husband when he was also on a one year break.

This new found freedom has not been easy.  It was almost nerve wracking before the decision was made, as well as a few months after the action was taken to stop work. But after realising that I can survive ok without working, and the longer I manage to live on without drawing a salary, I begin to relax and started to  enjoy my free time. Hence I'm restarting my postings again to my two blogs, and will document down to share more of my journey both personal and financial. 

At times I wonder if I'm making the right decision. But I've been planning this for so long now that it would be a waste if I just delay it and let the idea go. Sure I could have continued working remotely (which was what I have been doing for the past 2 years when Covid strikes). The money was good, and I could always do the minimum required of me. But there was always a feeling of a chain there, along with job dissatisfaction on the last job. And that my time was not really my own. This was especially suffocating when I really wanted time off to cater to some personal things. I told myself that I have to have more confidence in my own planning. And that if I don't take this step forward, what was the point of all those years of planning anyway. I saw a quote from a fellow Malaysian travel couple that gave me courage. It was in mandarin, but the translation was as such: "Thinking about it a thousand times, why not just be brave one time".

So hence starts a new stage in my life. And I hope it would be a permanent stage as I can't see myself going back to working full time in the future. For this blog at least, these are some of my future post ideas that I wish to document and share here. Note that these information would be Malaysia/Singapore specific as I am located in these two countries.

- Spending free time without costing money

- How to stay active and healthy

- How to survive without a salary in terms of money

- Ways of saving money

- How I plan for retirement finances

Stay tune!

Retirement and Getting FREE Entertainment

In this post I will cover how you can get free entertainment without paying for it. By this I mean: books, music, tv/movies etc. When you're retired, you don't want to be spending your money on these things except maybe for a few exceptions. So here are some ideas for you.

Books:
If you buy books, its going to take money, and its going to take up space and maintenance time. I've stopped buying buys a few years back even though I've always wanted a library of my own. They just take up too much space in my home! I started my limiting myself to only buying from my favourite author (mainly Terry Pratchett), but since he has passed on, I've stopped buying all together. This includes magazine subscriptions.

My main source of books now is NLB (National Library Board) which I adore and don't know how I would live if I were to move away from Singapore. Any books I want, I will borrow from the library, and even for new books, I will just place a reservation there that cost me SGD1.55 per reservation and collect it from my nearest library. No complaints there! Period!

I also have a Kindle, you can read all about it here in my other blog. eBooks and eMagazine may not be as awesome as the read thing, but still, it helps! It lowers down the cost and space. So very much worth switching to. You don't need to have a kindle, you just need a reader on your mobile phone or laptop/personal computer.

I do still buy a book here and there occasionally. Just yesterday I bought this Japanese muffin recipe book for SGD5 from Kinokuniya budget alley at Liang Court. Japanese books are expensive and not available from NLB, so that's my excuse. But SGD5 for a dream, I think its ok :)

Newspaper/Magazines:
You can get them like books! Online! There are occasion when I do allow myself to purchase magazines.

1. When there is a special offer where you need only buy one copy and get a goodie bag or free gift for it. Example during exhibition or fair, you can buy a magazine and get a goodie bag full of sample toiletries and food product. Buy it! 
2. Or if you are like me, I only buy from Kinokuniya as they have special gift for each magazine and I usually pick facial products cause one small sample can last me usually half a year or so. So far Liang Court is still my favourite Kinokuniya branch in Singapore, plus if you drive, the parking is SGD3.15 per entry during weekends and public holiday!
3. If you want to join an organised run (e.g. to keep fit or to lose weigh), join the Shape run. When you sign up, they allow you to subscript to their magazine for SGD2 a copy! Shape has more reading materials that will benefit your than other fashion magazine. Plus, Shape run is an awesome place to buy cheap yogurt/milk/cereals etc! Yes, I know, very aunty of me... FYI, I've stopped subscribing as well cause the magazines were piling up, and the max run is only 10KM, and I hate the tops they give yearly. Whoever design women sports wear seems to hate women to the max. 

Music:
YouTube is your answer! Especially if you are like me and have free unlimited wifi at home. But if you don't, YouTube is still the answer, cause you can search website to convert YouTube clips to audio files! Anyway, it's hard to buy CDs in Singapore these days, so just find it online!

Recently I just go to YouTube, search whatever  I am in the mood for, and listen to it. The ads can be annoying at times, but hey! Free music! Somethings got to give!
Some musics you can find on YouTube which is hard to find in a physical store:

• Classical music for certain purposes. Usually I listen to classical music at home cause it changes the mood of your home to make it more serene and calm. Try Mozart music of relaxation or studying. Or endless loop of Pachabel Canon.
• Soundtracks. I love soundtracks, and with YouTube, you can listen to them sometimes even before the movies are released in Singapore!
• Cafe Music. I recently discovered cafe music cause I wanted a Starbuck kinda feel at home, so I search Starbuck playlist and ta-dah! The other types of music you can try are foreign cafe music like Italian or French to change the ambiance of your home. I also love Japanese Jazz and Cafe music. It really makes me feel happy at home listening to it!
• Live concert/unplug version of music. Some of my favourite music are live performances that are not available on CDs. And yes when I find them, I convert them and keep them!

TV/Movies:
I don't believe in watching TV cause it's such a waste of time. It's also a waste of money if you have cable although it can be quite educational. Luckily for me, I usually just watch travel programs, cooking programs, documentary and talk show. And all these I can also find on YouTube! So stop wasting money on TV! As for movies, well, try to get a cheap ticket if you have to go watch them in the cinema, or sometimes Community Centre(CC) or malls have free screening! Check them out! Some of the items I watch on YouTube

• Daily talk show like Daily Show with Trevor Noah and John Oliver's Last Week Tonight are  my favourite to watch, all available online one day after it is aired in US. Just search!
• Cookshows. Alton Brown is one of my favourite, Cooking with Dog is another easy Japanese cooking clip I enjoy, Honeysuckle is always a joy to watch.
• but you can find almost everything else online. 
• Travel: Anthony Bourdain, Abroad in Japan etc...
• Documentary. Just search damn it! BBC, National Geographic etc...

Concert/Plays/Musicals:
OK, so unless the concert/musical is not coming to Singapore or in my case, banned in Singapore, (Book of Mormon), you should watch it online. When I travel overseas, I also try to catch plays and operas because believe it or not, it is so much cheaper overseas! E.g. I purchased an Italian Opera ticket for only SGD40. I don't think I can get such a price in Singapore. Sure the airflight there is going to burn, but hey! Bucket List items are part of retirement fun right?

Else, get cheaper tickets! Or enjoy free/cheap local production! Here are some ideas for you.

• Esplanade Free Events
• Botanical Garden 

OK, that was a longer post than I expected. Hope that was useful for you!

Ref:

Shape Magazine/Run

YouTube Awesome Clips on Early Retirement

Recently I was bored and started searching early retirement youtube clips, and came across these interesting clips. Sure most of these clips are in US context, that's why I'm hoping to start something more localised here. But still, it is good to be used as inspiring references for your goal :)

Below is a clip about retiring by 40 (US context). Mainly they talk a lot about moving to a cheaper country to live. If you live in Singapore, hey, you could do that too! Thailand, Indonesia, Myanmar, Cambodia, Vietnam!  For me, it's probably going to be Malaysia although I do fantasied about living in Japan and maybe I'll write a post about that one day on why I think that is possible! But back to this clip...

Click here

The next clip is also by the same person, I've already added him to my Facebook like page :P It is about budget travelling and long term living in well, South East Asian country. The example here is Cambodia, and I really like the way he explains it, that it is possible if you just want to stay abroad for a short period of time. I totally agree with him. I stayed in Bali before for 2 weeks, and the cost was really low. Each meal was SGD7, and that's in a cafe or restaurant! I could have easily survived on less if I had wanted to! Anyway, watch this clip to get some idea on cheap long holidays.

Lastly, here my fave clip and hero of early retirement, the ever so cool Mr Money Moustache. He has a blog full of resources and I have added it on the right side reference link. And this clip is the most entertaining one I've seen so far on youtube. The wonderful thing about him is, he has since retired for 10 years! Starting at around 30! So yeah! Plan early! Plan ahead!

SP Utility Bill

In today's post, I thought I'll share with you my monthly utility bill. So for month of February 2017, my bill was around SGD70. Usually I try to keep it below SGD80 per month. And thanks to Singapore Powers, you can actually analyse your usage with your neighbours and national average. They even measure you against efficient target, and apparently we're not doing too badly.

Mainly me and my husband currently work full time, so weekdays are spend mainly in the office. If I retire, I would be spending more time at home cooking, so most probably the bill would go up some what. Even when my parents visited us, it is usually not more than SGD120 a month. 

Our home is fully air-con, but we hardly turn it on. In fact, I usually on it during Hungry Ghost Festival cause I can't stand the smell of smoked coming in from outside. Usually if the night temperature exceed 30 degrees Celsius, then air con is being used. 

For our gardening, we used recycle water from our sink. We also have a water outlet on top of our toilet flush, so you can wash your hand and the water is being used to flush the toilet. It's supposed to save water. 

At the beginning after we moved in, we've also changed all bulbs to light saving bulb, and have a table lamp with soft lighting in almost all the rooms at home. It give a warm yellow lighting at night, and save a lot on bills! Previously our bills were usually around SGD80+ nearer to SGD90. But now, it is significantly lower. I also unplug appliance that we don't use so often.

For hot drinking water, we only boil whatever we need to consume as and when, and whatever left over is put into our cold water container. We do have an oven, a bread maker, a toaster/waffle maker , hot water heater etc. All things that uses high electricity. But we don't use hair dryer, wash dryer, or iron. 

I do think that new technology do help cut down the bill. Example would be efficient light bulb, newer fridge model, plasma TV. So do keep your things in good maintenance always!

As compare to average household, I guess our bills is rather low. I'm not complaining. I'm just sharing so that you can also compare how efficient your household is. Every quarterly or so, we also get rebate from the government. I have gotten a few bills before where my bill is actually in the negative range! Lol.  

My goal is to keep it below SGD100 a month, cause when I retire, I only budget myself that much for utilities, and that includes my mobile bill (if I still maintain a phone that is). 

To check your bill online, you can do so at Singapore Utilities Portal.

Just to share, in Malaysia, my aunt's utility bill is almost always free every month! This is because in Malaysia, if your bill is below a certain amount, it is free. The government consider this a poverty level, and I think that is so awesome! Especially if you plan to retire in Malaysia! (although I think this may only apply to Malaysian). So what my aunt does is, she doesn't really on the fan as she has a windy balcony facing the sea. She also doesn't cook, and doesn't have much electrical appliances at home. 

I wish Singapore have such incentives. That could encourage people to be more efficient, and it would defiantly help those people more in need. Just a thought.

Retirement Daily Schedule Planning and the Need for Discipline

Retiring from work, and especially if you are going to spend most of your time on your own, the lost of structure could be a frightening thing. For example when you are working, you know what time you have to wake up to go to work, the commute is routine, and at work you have given task to complete, and when it's time to knock off, you go home, eat your dinner, rest, and next day repeat.  But when you stop working, what do you do with your time? And who is going to be there to ensure you don't slack off? Well, the answer is up to you! And nobody is going to be monitoring you and telling you that you are wasting your time or cutting your pay! And that to some people, may be a frightening thought.

Well you first have got to have a plan. Perhaps have your days planned out. Have some kind of structure, yet enough freedom so that you don't feel like you're confined by anything. How your day goes its entirely up to you! But I would definitely recommend that you have some idea before you just go cold turkey! Cause if you don't, you may end up wasting a lot of your time away not achieving much. Even if your plan is to rest and do nothing for a month, it's still a plan! Just remember, you are going to have A LOT OF TIME the moment you stop working! 40 hours extra at least, if you're a working adult in Singapore.

Here's my rough plan for my weekday:

1. 6/7am : I still wake up early cause I love morning when its cool and quiet.
2. 8am:     I'll go to the market to do my marketing (yes I do my marketing on a daily basis, pretty French chic eh?)
3. 9am:     Have breakfast (optional to have it earlier as well), clean house
4. 10am:   Prepare meal of the day after that. 
5. 10am:   Spend 2 hours on a project. (Step 4 and 5 can be interchanged depending on the effort of the meal)
6. 12noon:Have lunch at noon
7. 1pm:     Spend 2 hours on a project
8. 3pm:     Have tea.
9. 3:30pm:Spend 1 or 2 hours on a project
10. 5pm      Go for a walk or exercise
11. 7pm:     Bath and have dinner
12. 8pm:     Entertainment: TV, read, internet, music, planning next day's meal
13. 12midnight: Sleep

Projects in the above list can mean: crafting, writing, researching things up, baking, experimenting, going out exploring, planning, reading, volunteering, blogging, learning a new skill, learning a new language etc.

Ideally I can afford gym membership after I retired, and there is a gym I can get to without spending money on transport cause I love my gym! And doing things while everyone else working solves the crowd problem all together. Even eating out on weekdays can be significantly cheaper. 

Why do I have such a detailed list? Cause I have been doing the same thing whenever I am off, or there is a long weekend holiday. I have also been planning my retirement for more than a decade now! My only fear is discipline. Cause when you don't have to report to anyone, it is easy to get distracted by the computer, by your bed, by Facebook, by almost anything. And it is also easy to slack off by putting off preparing your healthy meal daily, or skipping your exercise. Also, don't forget the discipline to control your spending now that you have removed the luxury of a regular income!

So I think retiring early involves a lot of planning, discipline, and creativity! Something you won't be having much of if you work full time cause work is going to dull your thinking! (unless you're doing what you love of course).

Kitchen Products That You Can Invest In

Being retired doesn't mean you can't enjoy the finer things in life. It just mean maybe you need to find alternative ways to enjoy it at a lower cost. So for me, purchasing the following products never crosses my mind as being a waste of money. Especially so since I'm the type that love staying at home and enjoying my own company. I know these products may not be for everyone, but the main point of this post is to share with you that you don't have to waste mindless amount of money for things you love. Just learn to make them yourself! And with technology, these products can help you!

1. Bread Maker

I love bread. My household of two goes thru 1 to 2 load of Gardenia bread a week, costing us almost SGD$5 per week. And the prices of bread keep increasing. For such a simple thing, why waste so much money on it consistently? So I got this bread machine for SGD$399 back in 2010. It is now 7 years old and have serve us well. A pack of flour cost us SGD$2.45 at the lowest price, and it makes 4 loaf per pack. That's SGD$0.60 per bread. Even if I add in all the butter, sugar, yeast, salt and what ever goodies I want for my bread, at most it is going to cost me SGD$1. I still save more than 50%. So yes, I say invest in a bread machine if you love bread. It also make scones, cake, dough and jam!

2. Capsule Coffee Machine

Ok, I admin this isn't the most environmentally friendly way of drinking coffee, but this is my only bad habit, so I allowed myself this small luxury. I got this back in 2013, and it is now 4 years old. f given a choice, I would have gotten a Nespresso machines as my sole purpose was to consume needless supply of espresso. At a coffee shop, a shot of espresso easily cost you cheapest SGD$2.50. With this, it cost me SGD$0.90. So I don't really spend much money on coffee outside of my home. I don't drink it daily, maybe just weekly. I take coffee more as a supplement, a leisure drink than a necessity. The machine cost us SGD$199, and it has stopped us spending dumb amount of money drinking hand crafted or chain coffee outside. I'm all set for retire with this in my kitchen!

3. 3-in-1 Snackmaker

My latest kitchen aid. I got it mainly for making waffles, and it cost me SGD$59 at a sale. I was already prepared to pay SGD$69 for it, and was so happy to get it SGD$10 cheaper. Why I bought this? Cause I love waffles, and I love toast bread, and this comes with a grill as well. So let's count the profit and lost. If you have a sandwich outside, especially a toaster one, it's going to cost you SGD$3 to SGD$7 or more depending on the filling. Waffles? Cheapest SGD$7 in a HDB cafe, to maybe SGD$15 at a fancy one. With this, my batter cost around maybe SGD$3 maybe SGD$5? (2 eggs, milk, flour, butter, sugar, baking soda, cinnamon, vanilla). And each time I make around a dozen! So I usually have them as a meal (SGD$2.50 per meal?), and have one week supply of breakfast after that! Why wouldn't I buy these? Duh!

Finally, a little tip. The idea of it all, is to make your home so nice and cosy that you don't really need to go hang out outside and waste your money. Just do it at the comfort of your home. When you spend outside, it's going to cost you a lot, and it's going to last a few hours. When you spend it on these items, it's going to cost you a lot, but last you for years! So although I always have the idea of going to a cafe with my laptop and look cool, I could never get myself out the door when my home cafe is so much nicer! It has all my favourite:

• Plates and dishes - I do spend money on nice plates, bone China, pottery etc to make the dining experience at home cozy and like cafe setting.
• Tea - I now buy in pack and pack them individually on my own like the photo above. It cost me SGD$7 for the tea, and SGD$2 for the bag, and I have like half a year to one year supply of my favourite tea. If I go to cafe, I can only go twice with that same cost.
• Free WI-FI - my husband work for a telco, so we get unlimited broadband at home
• Free ice water and any water and snacks - my fridge is always full of food.
• Free transport - I don't have to travel anywhere

So yeah, that's what I do. I don't mind people coming over to socialise as well. I just don't like spending ridiculous amount of money for things that can be had at a lower price without compromising the quality and standard. This also means that once I know how to cook a dish, I refuses to order it when I'm eating out. This has save me SGD$$ when I was having a risotto crave last time. Now if only my husband let me cook steaks at home.... Unless the restaurant can make it better than me, I usually don't order things I can cook at home.

If you enjoy reading about the above topic, you can also cross over to my other blog on some of the things I do at home to save money, but mainly because I also love making stuff at home.

Ref:

Cordycord's Food Related Post @ Midnight

BreadMachine @ Midnight

Coffee Machine @ Midnight

Waffle Mania @ Midnight

Retirement Reading Up

I know I'm 40, but I have been reading about the good life and retirement planning ever since my mid 30s. And after starting this blog, I wanted to read more so that I have enough references to write about in the blog. So last weekend, I went to the National Library and borrowed a bunch of books to read up. I wanted to retire, but I was also not sure whether it was the right thing to do at the moment. So I thought, researching it would be a great idea.

The reason I read is for the following reason:

1. To see if I am making the right move

2. To see if there is anything that I may have left out in my checklist to retire

3. To know more about other people's experience and learn from their mistakes

4. Learning about what defines a good life.

5. To show the readers of this blog that I am serious about this early retirement thingy!

And the book "The Secret of Shelter Island" by Alexander Green was just what I needed. It inspires me to start a reference link on the right on Recommended Readings for a Good Life. In fact, this book also inspires me to listen to Mozart Sonata, and recommended more books to be added in my reading list. And that is what a good book does, lead you to more things and widen your horizon. 

Besides reading about finance preparation for retirement, I think it is equality important to read about why you would want to retire early. And many a times for me, it is about living a more quality life, a good life, your life. Which also references another book on the Recommended Reading list "The Importance of Living" by Lin Yutang. 

When you retire, you will have so much time on your hand, and maybe not so much cash. So what would you be spending your time on? Do you have a plan in mind? Are you going to make good use of your time and life after retiring? Or are you just going to waste it away mindlessly?

For me, it would mainly revolved around cooking and eating, exercising, reading, writing and creating craft. It would also mean trying out new things, learning new things, volunteering, and maybe even meeting new people and trying my hands at socialising. 

Travelling would be limited to cheaper destination, with maybe a part time job to support that indulgence. I wish there were more scenic places in Singapore for me to hike in, but that is unlikely going to happen anytime soon. 

I have fantasise about maybe living a year or so overseas just to experience living near nature. Maybe I may even move back to Penang to live in my little apartment. I know I would enjoy fixing it up into a little cosy place and spending the remaining days of my life in my beloved hometown. Maybe even start up an Air B&B business! 

There are so many possibilities when you are not tied down to working all the time! So for now, I am just in the phase of reading and planing and researching. Maybe by June I will start living it and try it out for 6 months of a 1 year just to see whether I am ok with it. Whether I can manage with so much time to myself, and whether I can manage down sizing my life. No more restaurant indulgence, no more multiple trips overseas. I guess those are the only things that would set me back. But if I do work part-time, I don't think that pose much of a problem to me :)

So yeah, when are you going to start your own journey?

Maybe we can even plan together and start a community of people who retire early, or just people who learn to enjoy the good life?