My Retirement Plan At 35

I read with interest the ongoing discussion on this topic. I realized there are many forummers here who have walked this similar path just as I did as some of the issues and experiences discussed are so similar to my own. I would like to share my story here. Hope it doesn't sound long winded (I am after all, in my mid forties)

I retired from the corporate world at the age of 40 a few years back after accumulating more than a million dollar. I have no debt, own a fully paid apartment and a Jap car.

The initial days after retirement, I was a little lost (just like what Jared Seah felt). There were no longer people asking me for decisions, no more boss telling you if you are good (or no good), no more shedules or deadlines, no more business and execution plans, no more deals to close, no more jetting around and no more media or institutional funds contacting me for information. I did lose most of my network and contacts (exactly what mrEngineer said) and relied mainly on the internet for information (like what KopiKat did).

I became a full time retail investor.

I went through the 2007 crisis with much pain after losing about 500K on paper but was fortunate to have recovered since (I mentioned in one of my earlier posting). I was certainly humbled by that crisis and can understand what wsreader mentioned on Michael Lewis's article about luck. I did have some luck, both before retiring and certaily after the crisis. Before the crisis, just like most people who have made their fortune in the bull market then, I thought I knew a thing or two about investment. If you asked me again today, I will tell you it is a lot of hardwork and yes, luck.

After spending these few years doing full time retail investing and managing my own money, I can concur with what sgd said, that it is not easy, especially in the current market. You can have all the fundamentals or numbers right, but you can get the sentiments or timing wrong. Or you can get all these right, but your greed or fear just prey on you.

I did most of my research via the internet, just like what KopiKat said. There are just tonnes of information, if only you spent your time and effort to find. And from forums like this, I learned from many here: Musicwhiz, Temperament, shanrui_91, D.O.G, etc etc, just to name a few.

I can also relate to what mrEngineer said about losing your network and contact once you retire, and may not have access to the real story or the management of a company. What I do about this is, I tried attending AGMs whenever I can, and talked to the CEOs. I also make an effort to keep in touch with a lot of my past contacts and colleagues, buying them lunch or coffee every now and then, and exchange some informations.

I do have more time with family and friends. Recently, I was able to spend more time visiting and chatting with both my 70+ years old parents, and realised there are many things I do not know about them. I was glad to learn about their own little stories. I also spend more time exploring our own little city, Singapore, and found many interesting places, where I never knew existed. I am also planning to do more travelling with my wife, and there will be no more business meetings during these trips.

But somehow I guess whichever route one chooses, you gain some, you lose some.

Hi Gutman,

Thank you for sharing your experience. It was enlightening.

As I work on my journey to reach my target and goal, I have doubts if I am planning properly.

May I ask if you would be willing to share , how you planned and what are the areas that you prepared for before stopping working in the corporate sector at age 40. Also, if you can, what areas you felt you missed out in planning after you have stopped working in the corporate sector.

You sharing would definitely help me greatly as well as others in this forum.

Thank you and much appreciated.

On the contrary, I just renewed my contract for anther 3 years.
After reading so much, I guess I may be able to retire earlier if
I scrimp on expenses etc. but my job is not too demanding,
plus I don't really know what to do to occupy the free times
once I leave the system. Most importantly, I can still find
meaning in what I do for a living.

Hopefully, this useful forum will still be around 3 years from now.

(28-06-2012, 11:16 AM)gutman Wrote: I read with interest the ongoing discussion on this topic. I realized there are many forummers here who have walked this similar path just as I did as some of the issues and experiences discussed are so similar to my own. I would like to share my story here. Hope it doesn't sound long winded (I am after all, in my mid forties)

I retired from the corporate world at the age of 40 a few years back after accumulating more than a million dollar. I have no debt, own a fully paid apartment and a Jap car.

The initial days after retirement, I was a little lost (just like what Jared Seah felt). There were no longer people asking me for decisions, no more boss telling you if you are good (or no good), no more shedules or deadlines, no more business and execution plans, no more deals to close, no more jetting around and no more media or institutional funds contacting me for information. I did lose most of my network and contacts (exactly what mrEngineer said) and relied mainly on the internet for information (like what KopiKat did).

I became a full time retail investor.

I went through the 2007 crisis with much pain after losing about 500K on paper but was fortunate to have recovered since (I mentioned in one of my earlier posting). I was certainly humbled by that crisis and can understand what wsreader mentioned on Michael Lewis's article about luck. I did have some luck, both before retiring and certaily after the crisis. Before the crisis, just like most people who have made their fortune in the bull market then, I thought I knew a thing or two about investment. If you asked me again today, I will tell you it is a lot of hardwork and yes, luck.

After spending these few years doing full time retail investing and managing my own money, I can concur with what sgd said, that it is not easy, especially in the current market. You can have all the fundamentals or numbers right, but you can get the sentiments or timing wrong. Or you can get all these right, but your greed or fear just prey on you.

I did most of my research via the internet, just like what KopiKat said. There are just tonnes of information, if only you spent your time and effort to find. And from forums like this, I learned from many here: Musicwhiz, Temperament, shanrui_91, D.O.G, etc etc, just to name a few.

I can also relate to what mrEngineer said about losing your network and contact once you retire, and may not have access to the real story or the management of a company. What I do about this is, I tried attending AGMs whenever I can, and talked to the CEOs. I also make an effort to keep in touch with a lot of my past contacts and colleagues, buying them lunch or coffee every now and then, and exchange some informations.

I do have more time with family and friends. Recently, I was able to spend more time visiting and chatting with both my 70+ years old parents, and realised there are many things I do not know about them. I was glad to learn about their own little stories. I also spend more time exploring our own little city, Singapore, and found many interesting places, where I never knew existed. I am also planning to do more travelling with my wife, and there will be no more business meetings during these trips.

But somehow I guess whichever route one chooses, you gain some, you lose some.

"I went through the 2007 crisis with much pain after losing about 500K on paper but was fortunate to have recovered since (I mentioned in one of my earlier posting). I was certainly humbled by that crisis and can understand what wsreader mentioned on Michael Lewis's article about luck. "

Unquote:- Some like to call it luck but some like to call it God's Blessings. i always ask for God's Blessings even though sometimes i know i deviate from his teaching. That was where i became greedy and speculated and lost a lot of money. i think UTD is at least 120k/23 years. But this was money i profited from HIS BLESSINGS. Imagine how much more Blessings i would have received if i always follow his teachings. Amen.


Thank you very much for mentioning my name. Phew! You know sometimes i feel i have nothing to contribute here except my experiences in life. i just hope i am not talking nonsense to some people here in this forum.

NB:
But i like to be a sponge here if i am nothing. i believe in lifelong learning from anyone who is willing to teach - Good or Bad i will learn. Knowledge from good benefit everyone. Knowledge from Bad help me to understand what is good and not to fall into the cesspool.

(28-06-2012, 11:58 AM)flinger Wrote: Hi Gutman,

Thank you for sharing your experience. It was enlightening.

As I work on my journey to reach my target and goal, I have doubts if I am planning properly.

May I ask if you would be willing to share , how you planned and what are the areas that you prepared for before stopping working in the corporate sector at age 40. Also, if you can, what areas you felt you missed out in planning after you have stopped working in the corporate sector.

You sharing would definitely help me greatly as well as others in this forum.

Thank you and much appreciated.

Hi flinger,

Seriously speaking, I did not really plan the whole thing about retirement. It could be due to what we call midlife crisis.

I got tired with all the corporate burden and the travelling that I began questioning if I am doing the right thing with my life.

And when I started realising that the income generated from my investment can more than cover my daily expenses, I started to play with the idea of leaving my job and find something different to do with my life. After all, we only live once.

One thing I did plan and ensure was that I should be debt free and be able to live on my passive income.

The other was to continue the journey of learning everything about equity investment, which brought me to ValueBuddies.

(29-06-2012, 10:17 AM)gutman Wrote:

(28-06-2012, 11:58 AM)flinger Wrote: Hi Gutman,

Thank you for sharing your experience. It was enlightening.

As I work on my journey to reach my target and goal, I have doubts if I am planning properly.

May I ask if you would be willing to share , how you planned and what are the areas that you prepared for before stopping working in the corporate sector at age 40. Also, if you can, what areas you felt you missed out in planning after you have stopped working in the corporate sector.

You sharing would definitely help me greatly as well as others in this forum.

Thank you and much appreciated.

Hi flinger,

Seriously speaking, I did not really plan the whole thing about retirement. It could be due to what we call midlife crisis.

I got tired with all the corporate burden and the travelling that I began questioning if I am doing the right thing with my life.

And when I started realising that the income generated from my investment can more than cover my daily expenses, I started to play with the idea of leaving my job and find something different to do with my life. After all, we only live once.

One thing I did plan and ensure was that I should be debt free and be able to live on my passive income.

The other was to continue the journey of learning everything about equity investment, which brought me to ValueBuddies.

Ha! Ha!
Well put and humble.

Wealth = Income - Expenses

You have significantly more control over your expenses than income. While you should focus on both elements of the equation, it is often far easier to cut back on Expenses, than to increase Income.

Check out the article below on how even a cup of $5 Starbucks coffee a week can add up to a four figure expense on an annual basis.

"Saving Money on Small Things that Add Up to Big Dollars"

We don’t always think about saving money while indulging in our small luxuries. They are convenient, make us feel good, and give us a sense of confidence. We feel self-empowered for treating ourselves to them because we can afford them — or at least we like to think we can. Sure we all love to feel glamorous, but that requires some spending, and it can add up faster than we realize. Without even knowing it, we can be spending an extra $500 or more a month on little things!

We don’t have to give up the all little things that make us happy or start experimenting with the WallMart L’oreal do-it-yourself hair highlighting kit. But how about saving money by cutting back on some small things that add up fast?

You may have already heard of the “latte effect.” It suggests that we spend large sums of money on small, unnecessary items each day. This isn’t breaking news to us coffee drinkers. We love our coffee runs in the morning, before work, and after the desk doldrums when we get into that afternoon slump.

Naturally, we don’t want a plain, cheap ‘ole cup of coffee — especially not the one the receptionist brewed at 7:00 a.m. We want a frothy frappuccino, a milky macchiato, or a skim-pumpkin-cream-cinnamon-spiced-vanilla-brulee-latte from the fancy coffee shop downstairs! There’s just one problem (okay, maybe a couple) – not only are these expensive ($4.75), they go great with the the fresh chocolate chip banana nut muffins on display ($3.50).

Budget Schedule:

1 latte a Day – $4.75 each, and 825 calories if you buy a muffin!
5 days a Week – $23.75
4 weeks a Month – $95
12 months a Year – $1,140

Thanks, if I am not wrong, this is the guy who championed "The Latte Factor".

(29-06-2012, 11:01 AM)Janjansen Wrote: Wealth = Income - Expenses

You have significantly more control over your expenses than income. While you should focus on both elements of the equation, it is often far easier to cut back on Expenses, than to increase Income.

Check out the article below on how even a cup of $5 Starbucks coffee a week can add up to a four figure expense on an annual basis.

"Saving Money on Small Things that Add Up to Big Dollars"

We don’t always think about saving money while indulging in our small luxuries. They are convenient, make us feel good, and give us a sense of confidence. We feel self-empowered for treating ourselves to them because we can afford them — or at least we like to think we can. Sure we all love to feel glamorous, but that requires some spending, and it can add up faster than we realize. Without even knowing it, we can be spending an extra $500 or more a month on little things!

We don’t have to give up the all little things that make us happy or start experimenting with the WallMart L’oreal do-it-yourself hair highlighting kit. But how about saving money by cutting back on some small things that add up fast?

You may have already heard of the “latte effect.” It suggests that we spend large sums of money on small, unnecessary items each day. This isn’t breaking news to us coffee drinkers. We love our coffee runs in the morning, before work, and after the desk doldrums when we get into that afternoon slump.

Naturally, we don’t want a plain, cheap ‘ole cup of coffee — especially not the one the receptionist brewed at 7:00 a.m. We want a frothy frappuccino, a milky macchiato, or a skim-pumpkin-cream-cinnamon-spiced-vanilla-brulee-latte from the fancy coffee shop downstairs! There’s just one problem (okay, maybe a couple) – not only are these expensive ($4.75), they go great with the the fresh chocolate chip banana nut muffins on display ($3.50).

Budget Schedule:

1 latte a Day – $4.75 each, and 825 calories if you buy a muffin!
5 days a Week – $23.75
4 weeks a Month – $95
12 months a Year – $1,140

Yes, we have to be wise in using our money most of the time but once in a green moon we spend "foolishly" is O. K. to me; if it gives me great satisfaction and gratification. After all if tomorrow never comes, will you regret?

(29-06-2012, 10:17 AM)gutman Wrote: Hi flinger,

Seriously speaking, I did not really plan the whole thing about retirement. It could be due to what we call midlife crisis.

I got tired with all the corporate burden and the travelling that I began questioning if I am doing the right thing with my life.

And when I started realising that the income generated from my investment can more than cover my daily expenses, I started to play with the idea of leaving my job and find something different to do with my life. After all, we only live once.

One thing I did plan and ensure was that I should be debt free and be able to live on my passive income.

The other was to continue the journey of learning everything about equity investment, which brought me to ValueBuddies.

Hi Gutman,

While you simply said, you never planned, but in actual fact you seem to have .....just that you did not plan when you intend to stop working. =)

There was a trigger one day that made you decide that you need to leave. But before that trigger, you were planning and this is what I learned :

1) You were investing to get passive income that will meet your expenses so that you don't have to work in the corporate world one day.

2) You were investigating on what you could after stop working in the corporate world that would be more meaningful in life.

3) You planned to ensure you would be debt free before you stop working in the corporate world.

I am sure there were other areas of life you did plan, just that you probably don't seem to realize it. ;p

These are some of the things I'm planning on top of medical insurance and other related areas.

Thank you anyway for your comments.