Today I unconsciously search for “financial independence blog” in Google. It’s nostalgic to see all the blogs that I used to read come to surface.
One blog that I always enjoy reading is A Purple Life.
This blogger has been pursuing financial independence (FI) since 2015 with her partner and she managed to retire early with $500k in 2020, by the age of 30.
I love her blog because her way of writing is very transparent and feels like she is casually talking with me. Since she already retired early, it becomes a good source of inspiration for me, especially in my stock investing journey.
I know, you might be saying, how can a Malaysian survive with just RM500k?
You’re not wrong though. She made it thanks to strong currency (USD) and low expenses.
Unfair Advantages
The main reason why she managed to pull off her early retirement is her unfair advantages.
Besides the USD, she also have advantages of
- No Kids
- Decent Salary ($100k/year at 27)
- A like-minded partner who seek FI
- No mortgage (I guess)
Not that I am being sour but I just want to make things clear before we set our expectation on FI.
If you have most of the unfair advantages that she has, and you start your FI journey at 25 or earlier, realistically you may achieve early retirement, if you want to.
What is Financial Independence
In simple words, FI means you are free from having to work for money as you have enough passive income to cover all your life expenses.
In order to achieve that, you have to know your annual expenses and choose the investments that supply you the passive income.
You can read more here: What is Financial Independence & How to Achieve It
What’s My Plan to Retire Early
All the above unfair advantages, I don’t have any, except salary. That’s why I couldn’t set ambitious target (like age 30 or 40).
After calculated my current net worth and investment value, I have a bit of confidence on achieving FI by 50.
My FI target is to have RM2 millions from EPF and my own stock portfolio.
Right now, I’ll just keep on saving and invest my money until I’m 50. 16 years more to go.
Why I want to retire early? And what’s my plan after I achieved FI? These topics will be in another blog posts.
Final Thought
In fact, I believe every one can achieve FI and retire early if you have a strong why on why you want to retire early. The rest will be all about the mindset, planning and consistent execution.
Talk with you next time!
