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?

Retirement and Getting Free Money

Does being retired means cancelling all your credit card and stop spending money and live as a house hermit? Well that's not how I plan to do it. And even if you are not retired yet, you can still find ways to stretch your money so that you have more to go towards your retirement fund. So today's post is about stretching and getting free money that is available our there, 

Above photo shows most of the the loyalty card and credit card that I hold. We often hear that you should be careful about credit cards as it makes you spend more money than you intended, or that loyalty is a scam that makes you part with more of your hard earn money. Well, I think we need to strike a balance here. If you are going to spend the money anyway, and there is a way to get some money back in return, why on earth would you want to pass up free money? Of course, all the above are not a necessity if you don't need them by all means! But I still like a little luxury in my life even after I retire.

Take for example my spending today - Sunday (Total Free Money SGD$25.60)

1. I went for morning walk with a friend today from Bedok to Marine Parade. On the way back, if it didn't rain, we could have taken the free shuttle bus back. Total transport cost SGD$1.23, although if I had it may way, that could have been zero. (Savings SGD1.04 on bus to Marine Parade)
2. I decided to treat her breakfast, so we went to Cedele. I am a member of theirs, but my membership have lapsed. I renewed by membership at SGD$40, and got SGD$60 credit back (SGD$20 free money). Our breakfast cost SGD$25, I treated my friend to a nice breakfast for SGD$5 for two person. I still have SGD$35 in credit to use on another special occasion.
3. Since I have a 1-4-1 drink offer in my Starbuck card, we decided to go there for drinks after that. I had a ice blended and she had a later. I paid SGD$7.60 for my ice blended, and her latte was free. (SGD$5.60 free money).
4. I went to the National Library to collect a book I wanted to read. By doing that, I was already saving money instead of buying it. The fact that I choice not to reserve it also save me an additional SGD$1.55 because I have checked the book's availability the night before. (Savings SGD1.55)

So yeah, lesson learn: don't be lazy. walk more. And if there is a deal to get, do fully utilise it. So although none of the below paid me any money at this point to write about their benefits, I thought I share how I benefit from them:.

• Credit cards and reward system. While working, I do go for business trip and I paid all my hotel bills by credit card. This give me enough point which I usually exchange for free money of SGD$20 Jack's Place voucher cause I love the steaks there. 
• Kris flyer reward system. Since I fly quite frequently, I signed up for it for FREE and after 1.5 years, I've earned enough for a free return ticket to Taiwan worth free money of SGD$800? So even if I quit today, I know that at least I can still have one good trip in the future already paid for.
• Starbuck Card. I got my first card worth SGD$10 for free from my ex-company on a Staff Suggestion Scheme. Signing it up gives me free cake on my birthday month (free money of SGD$7) plus from time to time 1-4-1 drink offer. Once, I topped up SGD$100 just to get a free organiser which was just awesome! 
• Golden Village Membership is also free. On your birthday month, you also get 1-4-1 movie tickets, so that's free SGD$13. Plus I think you save on booking fees if you book online.
• Popular Membership. The Popular card is free when I signed up for 3 years cause they gave me back my money in voucher. I haven't really benefited much from it except stuffing my drawers with beautiful notebooks, but I've always wanted a Popular card and it was a good deal the time I sign up cost it usually cost SGD$10 per annum. Popular card can also be used in Malaysia, Singapore and Hong Kong.
• Kinokuniya card belongs to my husband, but I use it cause sometimes, you just have to buy books :)
• Tang Membership. I got this card for free when I was buying some clothes there. I love their kitchenware, so I kept it hoping to use it in near future. Well I recently did, getting myself a snack maker that had an original offer price of SGD$69 but was on sale for SGD$59! After paying, I got around SGD$6 credit to my membership for future use. On your birthday month, you also get more discount. And from time to time, they also give free sample cosmetic. 
• Hotel.com offers discounted price and free hotel stay after collecting 10 nights stay. Since I travel so much, it was a no brainer to sign up for it. I have benefited quite a bit from this loyalty problem, most recently earning around SGD$70 of free hotel stay. Previously it was also known as Hotelclub.com. 

I've shared all the info of all loyalty programs mentioned here below in the reference section. Of course there are tonnes of other loyalty programs that are totally worth your time to look up on . If you have any good deals to share, do add on in the comments so that we all can save more money and retire early without compromising our quality of life.

Ref:

Cedele Membership

Kris flyer

Starbucks

Golden Village

Popular

Kinokuniya

Tang Membership

Hotels.com

Money

OK, so let's take out the elephant (or in this case, my Money Saving Kitty!) in the room out and start talking about. And by that I mean talking about MONEY! How can anyone retire in Singapore at an early age if you are not from a rich family? The cost of living is so high here. Well guess what, I am not going to go there. This is not about what is the right or wrong way to do that. This is about how you can find ways to achieve that goal. So let me share with you how I plan to do it. 

First a little about me. I am a Singapore PR originating from Penang Malaysia, and I am married, and live in a 4 room HDB. I don't have any kids, but I am supporting my 2 parents in Malaysia. I do have a post graduate in Software Engineering and do earn an above average salary (median Singapore Salary in 2015 was of SGD3.7k). But I've never been one that is aggressive in terms of salary, and to be frank, I am probably the lowest paid among my peers. But let's get salary our of the equation here and just focus on our goals of retiring! If we are always tied to the idea of salary, we can never free ourselves from being employed! So let's start sharing:

How much money do you save

And how much money you spend makes a lot of difference here. Do you spend everything you earn? Or save them? How is your cash flow? Lucky for me, I don't really spend money. Growing up poor kinda limits your imagination on what you can spend on. So I more or less have been saving more than 50% of my salary since I started working. Here is roughly what I spend on a monthly basis (in 2017 while still being employed):

• 100SGD on utilities (Singapore Power bills + Singtel Mobile Bills)
• 100SGD on transportation (MRT or bus, and my office is like 15mins by bus)
• 300SGD daily meals (On average I try to spend 10SGD per day on meals)
• 300SGD misc (credit cards, entertainment, treats, shopping)

So in general, I need around SGD2k to survive monthly. This does not includes allowance to my dependences, insurance, taxes and healthcare!

Singapore government also have this thing call CPF where they deduct around 20% of your pay for your old age fund which they only give out when you reach 65 years old.

Are you in debt? How is your cash flow? 

My HDB which was bought for SGD220k in 2004 is fully paid off within 7 years from the date we purchased.  This is not average for Singaporeans, but let's just say me and my husband don't trust ourselves to commit to a long term loan. I do still have one debt I am still servicing for a small condo I purchased in Penang back in 2013? This is my backup plan for retirement back in Penang should I ever need to. I hate paying rent. Renting feels like your bucket has a hole in it and water is always rushing out and you can never get those money back. 

Passive Income, how do you plan to support yourself after you retire.

Currently my goal is to have a passive income of at least 500SGD a month. So that's 6000SGD per annum. I plan to use the rest of my savings so far to help me reach my death bed. I have also not ruled out getting fun jobs to learn new things, pass the time and earn a small salary to get by. There is also an option of renting out our flats or room to supplement our income. 

In reality? My condo in Penang generates enough from rental to stop me worrying much about my mortgage for the place. So that kinda took care of itself. I do invest in shares and blue chip investments, and inclusive of bank saving account interest, I kinda achieved 50% of my targeted passive income currently! Yay. And my investments can only grow along the years. By the way, I don't consider investment and insurance as expenditure cause I fully intend to gain back my money at the end of it. If I am being naive, do share your thoughts with me!

I think I'll stop here for today. If you have no idea what I am talking about till now, perhaps I can recommend you to read Rich Dad Poor Dad. It explains all the above simple enough, and should be able to get you started. I know that is where I started learning about cash flow and passive income. I'll leave the link below so you can have access to it. And because we need to save money here, my link is to the National Library Board so that you can stop wasting your money buying books and spend it achieving your retirement instead!

Ref:

Rich Dad Poor Dad