I'll make RM2mil from selling my business, how do I achieve financial freedom?

[blessed2day]

@debwater Ya, here's my spending breakdown. Do let me know which items seem abnormally high.

Total spending over 6 months

• CATEGORIES SPENDING
• DiscretionaryRM17,552.28 (wife bought an iPad pro during this period)
• House UpkeepRM15,473.57 (maid salary + others)
• FrequentRM14,748.70
• Child EnrichmentRM11,306.60 (school fees + koko)
• EatingRM10,973.98 (a lot of grab because no time to cook due to work)
• MedicalRM10,016.50 (kids got sick quite a lot during this period, hospitalization)
• Sinking Fund + maintenance RM8,266.14 (had to replace aircond + hacking)
• CarRM5,970.20
• LifestyleRM5,278.07
• RecurringRM4,980.84
• All Other CategoriesRM6,968.78

Edit: this is for 6 months, not per month.

 

[amberzon]

@blessed2day For eating why dont the maid cook it for you?, if its ordering grab food everytime its hella expensive and can take a decent amount from it

 

[blessed2day]

@amberzon to be clear, maid is 3 times a week, 8 hours each time. she spends most of her time looking after the young kids... she does cook, but yeah... i think there's something wrong there. i think i need her to cook bigger portions so we can carry forward to lunch. thanks for the insight.

 

[rickytheevangelist]

@blessed2day you can get the maid to prep ingredients, like peel garlic/onions, clean and prep veg/meat. and you cook on the days shes not in.

or as you say, cook for multiple days at a time. meal prep that shizz.

 

[blurredcontours]

@blessed2day technically if you FIRE you'd probably have the time to cook yourself.

 

[amberzon]

@blessed2day Is this monthly spending? You said its 18k per month

 

[blessed2day]

@amberzon This is total over 6 months. Sorry i'll edit that in.

 

[marybeee]

@amberzon Top of comment said spending over 6 months

 

[juneel]

@blessed2day Are you sure you need some of these items? I'm not judging but you could easily cut down a lot of things.

 

[blessed2day]

@juneel There's definitely opportunity to cut. But I'm not sure how to establish that with my wife.

 

[lisa42]

@blessed2day Wow, spending like water. FIRE is a long way away for you with this kind of lifestyle and it will be difficult to cut the longer you live this lifestyle plus you have a family so not only its going to be your decision.

 

[npy]

@blessed2day The red flags to me are discretionary, lifestyle, recurring and others. Can list down the major purchases under these categories? And how are you saving right now? You save immediately after receiving your income or only later ?

Can DM if you wanna discuss further.

 

[blessed2day]

@npy This is the discretionary breakdown:

CATEGORIESSPENDING

Wife's spendingRM8,517.97

ChildrenRM3,196.09

HomeRM2,574.23

My spending RM1,170.79

Gifts/OccassionsRM1,082.70

UnbudgetedRM734.66

OutingsRM700.00

 

[blessed2day]

Breakdown of lifestyle is basically 50% my wife's pilates, and 50% my video gaming hobbies. I should meantion that I bought a PS5 over the period, but I balanced it off by selling my PS4, so net net it was about RM2k spent.

 

[blessed2day]

@npy Right now i'm getting like RM20k/mth in salary. so I'm able to have savings. I don't really have a structure right now as to when I put the money into investments.

 

[blessed2day]

@npy recurring breakdown. I think some of the numbers are high because they are annual subscriptions. also, a lot of my subscriptions are packages that are more than what i personally need because I buy it and share it with the entire family, eg all the streaming services.

Allowance to Mother in Law RM2,000.00

WWF (donation) RM510.00

YNABRM444.99

HeadspaceRM404.99

Gaming subscription RM343.96

NetflixRM330.00

DuolingoRM249.90

YouTube Premium RM161.40

HBO GORM139.80

SkillshareRM132.90

All Other CategoriesRM262.90

 

[debwater]

@blessed2day Going to need more clarity, the breakdown is too general and a bit all over the place.

Why is there discretionary and lifestyle spending? How do you define these categories?

What is 'Frequent' and what is 'Recurring'? Why is there 2 categories for the essentially same thing?

'Recurring' and 'Frequent' comprises of what? Phone bill? Internet? Netflix? or is that under lifestyle?

Medical expenditure, is it a recurring expense or a one off? Broken leg or chronic illness? If one off, you should not consider it as a monthly expenditure, savings should cover that. Plus, does the medical cost cover insurance?

Eating. Does this cover groceries, eating out and/or grab? No idea.

Why is house upkeep, maintenance and sinking fund calculated separately? Is upkeep only for rent/mortgage? But then why is maid cost there.

Not sure what is 'Others' as well.

 

[blessed2day]

@debwater Yeah, discretionary and lifestyle are technically both discretionary spending. I split them out because while discretionary covers everything under the sun, the lifestyle category covers very specific items that my wife and I are spending on (pilates and gaming).

In my budgeting app, Frequent is the category that appears at the top of my selection screen so it's easy for me to select. It comprises of frequent items such as groceries, petrol, touch n go, and pets.

Medical is doctor, hospital, and pharmacy. It's one-off expenses... but at the same time almost every month need to spendon something, so it's kinda like monthly.

Eating is for coffee, meals, snacks and social outings

House upkeep is indah water, gas, maid, tnb, syabas, internet

Maintenance/sinking fund is for payables to JMB and occasional repair works.

 

[idrys]

@blessed2day Edit and put this in the main post

 

[magda0316]

@blessed2day Firstly, have a deep look at your budget. RM18k/month means you're probably VERY well off, but if you maintain the "rich man's lifestyle", you're not going to make it easy for you to FIRE.

If given your options A and B, I'd pick A but diversify in other areas as well. VWRA is a global ETF but mainly focusing on US, Japan and Europe. If you forsee any development in China, you may consider getting either a China ETF, unit trust or invest in China shares yourself.

You may need to analyse your insurance needs as well, and also consider writing a will for your spouse and children as well.

Good luck on the journey to FIRE.