It's probably a long shot and as mentioned previously, I'm not retiring to scrimp and save. But rather to have some flexibility with my spending as well. So most likely I'll still be spending the same as my current but dropping all car related expenses. Cable is definitely unnecessary as everything can be found on Youtube.
There's plenty of entertainment/reading online.
What I put up above is just some numbers I picked out of the air which I feel might be reasonable. If we really scrimped I suppose we could spend like that. But then what's the point in retiring to suffer as well. I believe expenses for a family of 2 should hand around SGD2k - SGD3k without unnecessary luxuries. LV, Prada, Burberry, I'm sorry you have no place in my budget. You might make good investment picks though. If you include kids the cost may go up to about SGD4k - SGD5k for a family of 4 to live WELL.
There are people in Singapore supporting a family of 2 kids 2 adults with SGD3k or less. So I'm sure that the numbers I have listed out are definitely achievable although the allocation might not be correct.
In fact, this number relates to many other developed countries as well. Where you need about 25k of whatever currency to live well in that country. Unless you're talking about currencies which are in 100s or 1000s or dong.
Do some conversion, JPY, KRW, VND. You'd live quite well with about USD/SGD25k in whatever country as long as you don't overspend on unnecessary items.
I've realised many folks saying they can't invest/buy insurance but next thing I see is a new LV bag, diamond ring, nice new shoes, they go for facials, massage, pedicure, new car, new renovation, upgrading a PC, new handphone, etc etc.
In Singapore, when you sign up for 2 years of telephone subscription, we get a discounted phone.
When the 2 yrs is up. You can renew the line for another 2 yrs and get another discounted phone. Most people upgrade their phones this way.
I sold my new phone previously and kept my old phone. Netting a good profit as it was a new iPhone5 at that point in time. The profit essentially paid for my 2 yrs worth of subscription which means I am using my phone line for free. Unfortunately, I'll have to use my super old useless iPhone4 which can only make calls, sms, whatsapp, take pictures, surf net, play games...
I'd love to have the new features of the iPhone5 which I sold. Which can make calls, sms, whatsapp, take pictures, surf net, play games... OH IT'S LIGHTER!!!
The car is a terrible liability. I got it when I was trying to be a real estate agent. I should've sold it once I realised it wasn't the line I wanted to pursue. However, I'd have to take a big loss at that point in time. I'm keeping it til the life is up which is around 2-3 yrs. Then I'll never get one again in Singapore. By then, I'll probably not require one. Then again, I don't require one now. It's really just a luxury for me currently. No excuses. I admit this is one liability which is hindering my even earlier retirement. If you want to retire earlier. Don't get one.
Travel. I like taking short trips every few months. They keep me sane. As mentioned previously. I'm not entirely hot in my job. So I take short cheap trips. SGD1500 for 2 every trip. 4 trips a year at SGD6000 for both of us. We live simply during the trips. We plan real far ahead so that we can catch good cheap deals. Unfortunately, we can only travel around the Asia region. The trips are basically to get away from work rather than as a luxury so the 5-7 day trips are usually spent just hanging around and walking around the local areas learning more about the normal lives of the people. Typical places, Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, if we spend less on 1 trip we push some budget to another trip which may bring us to Japan, Korea, China, Taiwan. I'm not too sticky over the expenses. The SGD6k budget is really a guideline. But planning on a SGD6k budget helps to reduce the total spent as any over spending would result in about SGD7-8k travel expense. My take on this is, since we're already there, we'll spend more to have a bit of fun. But since we planned based on SGD6k, we don't exceed by much.
Well as you can see I could also cut off the travel expense as well. But whats the point. I might as well live in a tent and catch fish for food in that case. The whole point of this blog is to be able to retire early in an acceptable lifestyle according to what you want. But not in excess luxury.
I try to maximize my spending returns by using the right credit card, travel cheaply but also not scrimp and be a cheapo. There are definitely ways to live on even less but that's not the point. What I'm trying to do is to live well but not in excess. Which means no over priced watches, luxury bags, cars, wallets, shoes, etc etc etc.
This is similar but I'm a lot more lax than the 2 folks who inspired this blog. You can read more about them here MMM and ERE.
What about you? How much do you spend and what do you save on in your monthly spending? Do you scrimp and save but still find you have not much saving? Where is the leakage?
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