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Tag: F.I.R.E

FIRE! The beautified ugly side of retiring early

Posted on by careyourpresent

Financial Independent, Retire Early

Financial Independence, Retire Early (FIRE) is a movement that aims to achieve both financial freedom and early retirement. This is a very controversial topic for discussion, I am putting by head into the chop board for discussing about this topic. Many people want to retire early, hence there are many talks/theories about using withdrawal rate of 2-4% or even use dividend to cover expenses etc… It’s all about saving and investing wisely to build up enough wealth to cover living expenses and have the freedom to retire early and live life on your own terms. Life is so difficult to decide, but that’s what make it beautiful isn’t it?

However, there are many counter arguments for and against it. Recently there was some interesting discussions in a telegram group that I am in. Let me share some of it below before going into the actual discussion.

Photo by Kelly Sikkema on Unsplash

Conversation in a famous dividend telegram group

Someone said these:

When some pple in their 30-40s thinking about FIRE, I met this old uncle recently during one clan meetings. Incredibly he’s in his 90s, but doesn’t look his age and still goes to work daily!
And drives a brand new C class

Many rich ppl 90 plus still working.

My doctor 90 yr old still working. Father and son business. At B timah shopping centre . mind still very sharp . Physical good.

I said these

Different. Rich one go work got minions serve them. Of course everyday go work also can, sometimes can also can dont go office. Poor minion want retire early so that can stop being minion

Yes. 60 plus old people picking paper and cans from rubbish is because they love to work. They would love to continue till their 90s. Contribution to society, feel wanted and exercise.

Yes. The aunties and uncles in my neighbour is still working. They are so old and limping, still working hard to keep the neighbour clean and help with recycling efforts by picking up the dirty cans from rubbish bin. This keep them healthy and mind alert!

Photo by Mihály Köles on Unsplash

Hence, should we FIRE?

There are many arguments PROs and CONs against. Let me share some of these points with you.

1. Why FIRE? You should work as long as you can to keep mind active.

This is true to a very big extend. Not everyone can retire early. Many of us are used to a routine lifestyle. If you retire early, you may find yourself to be bored, don’t know what to do with your spare time which would otherwise by occupied by your usual 9 to 5 job. Many would feel loss, and lose purpose in life (but if your purpose of life is job, don’t you think it is very sad?)

Of course working will keep your mind active (or force your mind to be active), but if you can find something elsewhere (other than your job) to keep your mind active, isn’t it better?

2. Rich people don’t retire. You shouldn’t either.

Rich people don’t retire. Did you see people like Bill Gates, Warren Buffett retiring earlier? Or even see your bosses retire early? They don’t. Job is their purpose, their calling and one very key important point is that they are the bosses. If you are the minions and especially if you don’t like your job, you sure want to retire early.

This is similar to what I have said above in the telegram group, it depends on your job circumstances!

Different. Rich one go work got minions serve them. Of course everyday go work also can, sometimes can also can dont go office. Poor minion want retire early so that can stop being minion

Yes. 60 plus old people picking paper and cans from rubbish is because they love to work. They would love to continue till their 90s. Contribution to society, feel wanted and exercise.

Yes. The aunties and uncles in my neighbour is still working. They are so old and limping, still working hard to keep the neighbour clean and help with recycling efforts by picking up the dirty cans from rubbish bin. This keep them healthy and mind alert!

3.You are missing out career progression and potentially missing out on additional income and professional fulfillment that could have been achieved by continuing to work.

Retiring early typically means leaving the workforce before the traditional retirement age. This decision can have long-term implications, such as limited career progression and potentially missing out on additional income and professional fulfillment that could have been achieved by continuing to work.

In certain situations, individuals who retire early may find themselves needing or wanting to reenter the workforce. However, reestablishing a career or finding suitable employment opportunities after an extended break can be challenging, especially if skills and industry knowledge have become outdated.

4. Uncertain Future Expenses. Are you sure that you have plan will definitely work?

When retiring early, it’s essential to carefully plan for future expenses, such as healthcare costs, inflation, and unexpected life events. Health insurance and medical expenses, in particular, can be significant considerations, as retiree health coverage and Medicare may not kick in until a later age.

The above is very true, by retiring early, it is very “dangerous” to many. What if you count wrongly on the sums needed? What if suddenly you need money? What if you want to go back work but can’t find any work? No one want to hire you again? All these are valid concerns, do think through before you going ahead with the plan.

5. Social and Identity

Early retirement can impact one’s sense of identity and social connections, especially if friends and peers are still actively working. The shift from a structured work environment to unstructured free time may require finding new social circles or purposeful activities to maintain a fulfilling lifestyle. One may feel one one is worthless without job, without active income to feed yourself and your family.

But, remember this:

the job is not you, you are not your job. Do you believe that if you suddenly drop dead at your job, your company will just find someone to replace you easily? But your family will be sad as you can’t be replaced.

And You will never get a chance to play with your kids again but your company won’t care about you.

Photo by Markus Spiske on Unsplash

6. Psychological Adjustment

Retiring early is not as easy as you think. Being the Devil’s advocate, let’s say one has all the money

Transitioning from a busy work life to a life of leisure and self-direction can be psychologically challenging. Some individuals may find it difficult to adapt to the newfound freedom and may experience a sense of loss or lack of purpose.

Mind (in addition to the money which most believe in) is also very important but neglected consideration in FIRE!

7. Loss of Employer Benefits

Leaving the workforce early means giving up employer-sponsored benefits like health insurance, retirement contributions, and other perks. These benefits can provide a significant financial cushion and may be challenging to replace independently.

All these may seem trivia, but when medical issues strive, many would be worried. Have you planned this before you retire?

8. Potential Boredom or Lack of Purpose

Retiring early may lead to a loss of daily structure and a sense of purpose that work often provides. Some individuals may find themselves feeling bored, unfulfilled, or lacking direction. It’s important to proactively seek meaningful activities or hobbies to maintain mental and emotional well-being in retirement.

In short, know what you want to do if you are not working. Don’t just FIRE for the sake of FIRE.

What is your views?

Financial Independence, Retire Early (FIRE) is always a very controversial topic. If you are planning for this route, please make sure if you plan properly and taken in all consideration (such as the points above) before embarking on the journey. It is not as easy as you think, even for very rich people. Besides having sufficient money for FIRE, there are many many other considerations.

Of course by keep working, means you are selling your precious time away (Time is the ultimate currency, not money) for something that can be printed infinitely by the government. Is it worth it today?

My main purpose of this post is to make people think about their options, what they really want in life? Don’t just work without thinking.

Good articles that you should read!

People are drawn to dividend investing.

Why? Firstly, dividends provide a regular stream of income, allowing investors to receive a portion of the company’s profits on a periodic basis. This can be particularly attractive for individuals seeking consistent cash flow or looking to supplement their existing income. Additionally, dividend investing is often viewed as a more stable and predictable investment strategy compared to relying solely on capital appreciation.

I always write and share articles, especially on dividends which many people love them. Do read them!

Alternatively, you can go the right side of my page, there is a search bar where you can simply search “dividend” to see all my articles related to dividends!

Of course, you can search for other things that would interest you such as “Careyourpresent”, “Reits”, “Side Hustles”, “Fixed Incomes”, “Savings” etc.

CAREYOURPRESENT

Money just buy you the chance of freedom.

When you are young and working, you exchange time for money. When you are old, you can have lots of money but you can’t buy time back, especially the things that you have missed while busying striking out in career. Of course, if you love your career, and consciously know that you are missing out the first time your child walk or talk, that’s ok, but if you are the other spectrum, please do something about it.

Your kids grew up and they no longer need you to accompany them. They no longer want to sit on your lap to share/do things with you…all these time you spent in your 9 to 6 or even longer cubicles…can the money that you have earned by you back these?

We always thought we have more time with our old parents, but we are wrong. Time with them is ticking away every day. One day it will suddenly be gone. There is no regret medicine, no reset in time. Gone is gone and cannot come back. No matter you are billionaires or millionaires, you cannot reset this.

We always thought that we have more time with our spouse every day, but we are wrong. One day they will be gone too. When you read this, please go tell your spouse that you love him/her and he or she is the best thing that you ever had in your life.

I have picked out some of the more life reflecting articles of the CAREYOURPRESENT series. Do read them:

You can read more about my articles on Careyourpresent via the Category “Careyourpresent” or simply click “Careyourpresent” via the main menu bar.

REMEMBER:

Love your life daily.

You have one less day with your spouse, parents, children and yourself.

Time is ticking away.

For each passing day,

Enjoy and Treasure your Life!

For those who are interested in regular updates of my articles, please join the others to sign up for my free newsletter to has my newest blogposts sent to your mailbox for free!

For real time exclusive updates on market news/life (especially Crypto markets where the news move fast, important news will be shared directly via tweets or telegrams), do also join the platforms below and engage with other like-minded people!

You may also contact me via [email protected].

If you’re looking referral codes, do check out my referral and ebook page. Give it a try and who knows? You might end up loving these platforms! To be absolutely fair to all the readers, I am definitely using all these companies and they are useful to me! Likely will be useful to you too!

At the same referral and ebook page, you can also download my free ebooks and other free resources.

For quick references to these resources, you can see below.

  • Ebooks and other useful resources on enhancing productivity (Investment, Excel, Notion etc). Currently most of it are free at this moment (subject to change).
  • WeBull: A powerful brokerage with nice free welcome gift. You can refer to my guide here on how to signup! 4 Simple step only! Click here to register a new account!
  • MoneyOwl: You can use this 6SHU-93MC to get free grab vouchers and highly safe liquid cash fund account.
  • Trust Bank – You will enjoy free FairPrice E-Voucher referral if you sign up via my referral code KNDBPEPT. Simply download the Trust Bank SG App on the App Store or Google Play Store. Tap on “Use referral code” immediately after you start the app and key in: KNDBPEPT
  • FSMOne: P0413007. Good account to keep liquid cash in autosweep and to purchase investment at low fee.
  • Hostinger: You can use this link for hosting your new website. 20% off hosting!
  • Crypto.com: Use my referral link https://crypto.com/app/h92xdfarkq to sign up for Crypto.com and we both get $25 USD 🙂

My Special Account Money (SA) in Central Provident Fund (CPF) – Cornerstone or Last Resort for Retirement?

Posted on by careyourpresent

Central Provident Fund (CPF)

I believe CPF formed a large net worth of most working adults in Singapore, including me. I have talked about my current stage of in my reflection article (Portfolio Update: Feb 2023 and Reflection at half-life (hopefully) mark – 40 Years old). In that article, I have mentioned that “Reach CPF Full Retirement Sum (FRS) in Special Account in Jan 2020 (Current: way exceeded 200k such that will still reach FRS even if not working).” Action and evidence speak louder than word. I shall show screenshot of my CPF in this post at the end of this post.

What is Central Provident Fund (CPF)?

In case for those not aware (especially foreigner) who are reading this post. Let me share some details.

CPF is short for Central Provident Fund in Singapore, which is a savings scheme designed to help Singaporeans save up for their future. It’s a mandatory savings plan that both employers and employees contribute to, and it offers a range of benefits such as retirement savings, medical savings, and insurance coverage.

Contributions to CPF are made on a monthly basis, and the amount you contribute depends on your age and income. The funds in your CPF account are managed by the government, and you’ll earn interest of 2.5% to 4% (with special extra interest, it can go up to 6% for the first 60k) on your savings too.

Overall, CPF is an important safety net for Singaporeans, and it’s designed to make sure that you have enough financial resources to support yourself throughout your life. Whether you’re saving up for retirement, a home, or your education, CPF is there to help you achieve your goals (hopefully).

One key term in CPF that one should know is Full Retirement Sum.

What is Full Retirement Sum?

The Full Retirement Sum (FRS) of CPF is the amount of money you need to save up in your CPF account to receive a basic monthly payout for life after you retire. This is really important because it helps to ensure that you have enough money to cover your living expenses and healthcare needs during your retirement years.

When you turn 55, you can choose to set aside your FRS in a special account called the Retirement Account (RA). The RA is designed to provide you with a monthly payout starting from the age of 65 years old, so you can enjoy your retirement without worrying too much about finances.

As of 2023, the FRS is $198,800, but don’t worry if you don’t have that much saved up yet. You can still receive a lower monthly payout under the CPF Life Scheme if you don’t have enough savings in your CPF account to meet the FRS.

Of course, if you want to receive a higher monthly payout in retirement, you can choose to set aside more than the FRS in your RA. This will help you enjoy a more comfortable retirement and give you greater financial security.

FRS has been increasing steadily over years (see screenshot below) and many people are worried that they can’t achieve it. This is fact and a real worry.

CPF website

How much monthly payout will I get?

The next question is how much I will get monthly at age 65. From the CPF website,

To receive a monthly payout of $1,470 – $1,570, you will need $288,900 in your
Retirement Account (RA) at 65. A much lesser sum of $192,000 is required if you set aside
the amount in your RA at 55.

For example, if I want 2k per month at 65, I need to have around 280k at age 55! Wow that’s a big amount. It’s difficult to achieve it – That’s why most people think.

CPF website

My CPF Special Account (SA) as of Today

Picture speaks a thousand words.

Why do I show SA only? Because I am making use of the compounding effect of CPF SA to achieve Full Retirement. The rest of money in Ordinary Account and Medisave Account to me are just bonus to me.

Assuming, I quit my job immediately, thus no further CPF contribution to work.

This is what I will get at age 65.

Ignoring the extra interest for first 60k and further work contribution, I would have 612k at age 65. Based on the payout table from CPF website earlier, $428,300 will give $2140 to $2300 monthly payout from age 65. I have 612K, thus it means I should have at least 3k per month. Together with my spouse, we would have 6k per month monthly at least. Decent lifestyle for old couple? (Don’t forget that this excludes my investment portfolio)

Power of compounding

Of course, this is a backup plan. My main plan is still my equity, bond, option, & crypto portfolio, which is way larger.

Plan early and build success.

My idea is just to get CPF FRS out of mind, hence I deliberately try to maximize it when I was younger. Hence, today, at 40, I totally don’t bother with how much I have in my CPF – just let it auto-compound.

It’s not difficult to achieve Full Retirement Sum – FRS

Contrary to most beliefs, it is not difficult to achieve Full Retirement Sum. There are few simple methods to achieve based on what I did.

  • Transfer OA to SA as early as possible. I did this after learning from A Singaporean Stocks Investor (ASSI) decades ago. This is my main method to achieve Full Retirement Sum. This is achievable as I didn’t buy expensive HDB and thus minimal amount is taken from OA to pay for my house.
  • Top up with CASH to get tax relief. I did some top-ups over the past decades (but in total less than 5k). Why? Because of the idea of shifting goalpost. It worries many people and of course me. Furthermore, I could get more than 4% outside from stocks etc, why lock my money for 30 years?

However, for the transfer of OA to SA, it is different, since money already trapped in system, why not make full use of it? Let the government interest play the magic of compounding for you.

What about you? Have you achieved your Full Retirement Sum? Do you plan to achieve it? It’s not difficult and I am the living proof of it.

Care Your Present

Lastly, I want to repeat one last thing. please learn to live in the moment, enjoy every single moment of your life.

“Time has no reset button” is what I used to be saying.

But this is not powerful accurate enough.

It SHOULD BE Time is ticking away.

For each passing day,

You have one less day with your spouse, parents, children and most important yourself.

Read: Truly understand Living in the Moment now

Good articles that you should read!

People are drawn to dividend investing.

Why? Firstly, dividends provide a regular stream of income, allowing investors to receive a portion of the company’s profits on a periodic basis. This can be particularly attractive for individuals seeking consistent cash flow or looking to supplement their existing income. Additionally, dividend investing is often viewed as a more stable and predictable investment strategy compared to relying solely on capital appreciation.

I always write and share articles, especially on dividends which many people love them. Do read them!

Alternatively, you can go the right side of my page, there is a search bar where you can simply search “dividend” to see all my articles related to dividends!

Of course, you can search for other things that would interest you such as “Careyourpresent”, “Reits”, “Side Hustles”, “Fixed Incomes”, “Savings” etc.

CAREYOURPRESENT

Money just buy you the chance of freedom.

When you are young and working, you exchange time for money. When you are old, you can have lots of money but you can’t buy time back, especially the things that you have missed while busying striking out in career. Of course, if you love your career, and consciously know that you are missing out the first time your child walk or talk, that’s ok, but if you are the other spectrum, please do something about it.

Your kids grew up and they no longer need you to accompany them. They no longer want to sit on your lap to share/do things with you…all these time you spent in your 9 to 6 or even longer cubicles…can the money that you have earned by you back these?

We always thought we have more time with our old parents, but we are wrong. Time with them is ticking away every day. One day it will suddenly be gone. There is no regret medicine, no reset in time. Gone is gone and cannot come back. No matter you are billionaires or millionaires, you cannot reset this.

We always thought that we have more time with our spouse every day, but we are wrong. One day they will be gone too. When you read this, please go tell your spouse that you love him/her and he or she is the best thing that you ever had in your life.

I have picked out some of the more life reflecting articles of the CAREYOURPRESENT series. Do read them:

You can read more about my articles on Careyourpresent via the Category “Careyourpresent” or simply click “Careyourpresent” via the main menu bar.

REMEMBER:

Love your life daily.

You have one less day with your spouse, parents, children and yourself.

Time is ticking away.

For each passing day,

Enjoy and Treasure your Life!

For those who are interested in regular updates of my articles, please join the others to sign up for my free newsletter to has my newest blogposts sent to your mailbox for free!

For real time exclusive updates on market news/life (especially Crypto markets where the news move fast, important news will be shared directly via tweets or telegrams), do also join the platforms below and engage with other like-minded people!

You may also contact me via [email protected].

If you’re looking referral codes, do check out my referral and ebook page. Give it a try and who knows? You might end up loving these platforms! To be absolutely fair to all the readers, I am definitely using all these companies and they are useful to me! Likely will be useful to you too!

At the same referral and ebook page, you can also download my free ebooks and other free resources.

For quick references to these resources, you can see below.

  • Ebooks and other useful resources on enhancing productivity (Investment, Excel, Notion etc). Currently most of it are free at this moment (subject to change).
  • WeBull: A powerful brokerage with nice free welcome gift. You can refer to my guide here on how to signup! 4 Simple step only! Click here to register a new account!
  • MoneyOwl: You can use this 6SHU-93MC to get free grab vouchers and highly safe liquid cash fund account.
  • Trust Bank – You will enjoy free FairPrice E-Voucher referral if you sign up via my referral code KNDBPEPT. Simply download the Trust Bank SG App on the App Store or Google Play Store. Tap on “Use referral code” immediately after you start the app and key in: KNDBPEPT
  • FSMOne: P0413007. Good account to keep liquid cash in autosweep and to purchase investment at low fee.
  • Hostinger: You can use this link for hosting your new website. 20% off hosting!
  • Crypto.com: Use my referral link https://crypto.com/app/h92xdfarkq to sign up for Crypto.com and we both get $25 USD 🙂

You will likely never run out of money with 1 million: Expectation vs Reality

Posted on by careyourpresent

Worry about running out of money

Many people worry about running out of money regard how much they actually have. But how much money is enough? Will you really run out of money? Human tends to overthink a lot, buffer too much, worry too much, think too much…If we look deeper, likely you will need lesser than what you think you need.

Recently I came by this post by the famous Mr Money Mustache – Why You’ll Probably Never Run Out Of Money, which has given me inspiration to write this post.

20 Times your annual salary

You’ve heard the rule of thumb: You’ll need about 20 times your annual salary to retire comfortably. But that number is just a rule, not a magic number. In fact, you might be surprised to learn that most people don’t even come close to having enough money for retirement. However, if you can save $1 million by the time, you’re ready to quit your job and live off of your savings alone (or later in life), then consider yourself lucky because there are very few people who will ever run out of money entirely once they reach this milestone.

How much money is enough for you?

So now that you know how much money is enough for you, let’s talk about how much is too much.

  • How much money do I need to retire?

This will depend on many factors like: the type of lifestyle you want to live, where in the world you plan on living and what your current level of income is.

If someone works at a job that pays $100,000 per year but spends all their money on luxury goods then they will not be able to retire on this amount of money because their expenses are greater than their income.

However if someone lives a very frugal lifestyle then it might be possible for them to retire early with only $1 million in savings (assuming they don’t have any debt).

Everyone has different retirement needs, but $1 million sounds right for most.

It’s a complicated question, but it depends on a few factors. How much do you want to spend each month? Do you want to travel and see the world? Are your kids going to college? Will they be at home for the next ten years or will they be on their own before then, looking for an apartment and then paying for cell phone bills, car insurance and other expenses associated with independence?

How much do we need in retirement accounts today?

We started with $1 million because that’s a nice round number—and because it made sense when we looked at our current spending habits compared to what we have saved. But as I said above, this is just a starting point; everyone has different needs and desires in retirement. You might not like living alone in an apartment after being married for thirty years; maybe you have expensive hobbies that cost thousands per year (like scuba diving or rowing). If so, maybe $1 million isn’t enough after all!

Withdraw 4% or less each year from your retirement account so it lasts through your golden years.

Once you’re able to set aside the amount you need for retirement, withdrawing from your retirement account should be simple. You should aim to withdraw 4% or less each year from your retirement account so it lasts through your golden years. This is a safe withdrawal rate that most experts agree on.

Let’s see real example

Enough of ratting, let’s look at different scenarios.

First assuming a family or someone spend 5k per month but have 1 million dollars at 40 years old. This number should be quite realistic for many families in Singapore.

Many people are dividend investors, given that high interest rate environment, it is not tough to get 5% dividend, even 6% and above is manageable. Let’s use this as example.

Scenario 1 (realistic 5% yield):

Let’s assume a family or someone spend 5k per month but have 1 million dollars invested at 5% dividend returns, retire at 40 years old. In this case dividend cash flow is lesser than expenses. Will he run out of money?

Dividend rate5.00%
Spending per mth$5,000.00
AgeYearPrincipalDividendSpendingRemaining Principal
402023$1,000,000.00$50,000.00$60,000.00$990,000.00
412024$990,000.00$49,500.00$60,000.00$979,500.00
422025$979,500.00$48,975.00$60,000.00$968,475.00
432026$968,475.00$48,423.75$60,000.00$956,898.75
442027$956,898.75$47,844.94$60,000.00$944,743.69
452028$944,743.69$47,237.18$60,000.00$931,980.87
462029$931,980.87$46,599.04$60,000.00$918,579.92
472030$918,579.92$45,929.00$60,000.00$904,508.91
482031$904,508.91$45,225.45$60,000.00$889,734.36
492032$889,734.36$44,486.72$60,000.00$874,221.07
502033$874,221.07$43,711.05$60,000.00$857,932.13
512034$857,932.13$42,896.61$60,000.00$840,828.73
522035$840,828.73$42,041.44$60,000.00$822,870.17
532036$822,870.17$41,143.51$60,000.00$804,013.68
542037$804,013.68$40,200.68$60,000.00$784,214.36
552038$784,214.36$39,210.72$60,000.00$763,425.08
562039$763,425.08$38,171.25$60,000.00$741,596.34
572040$741,596.34$37,079.82$60,000.00$718,676.15
582041$718,676.15$35,933.81$60,000.00$694,609.96
592042$694,609.96$34,730.50$60,000.00$669,340.46
602043$669,340.46$33,467.02$60,000.00$642,807.48
612044$642,807.48$32,140.37$60,000.00$614,947.86
622045$614,947.86$30,747.39$60,000.00$585,695.25
632046$585,695.25$29,284.76$60,000.00$554,980.01
642047$554,980.01$27,749.00$60,000.00$522,729.01
652048$522,729.01$26,136.45$60,000.00$488,865.46

Conclusion: This person/family still has half a million left at 65 years old even if he has cashflow less than expenses. At 65 years old, CPF life will kick in which should give additional cashflow.

Scenario 2 (possible 6% yield):

Let’s assume a family or someone spend 5k per month but have 1 million dollars invested at 6% dividend returns, retire at 40 years old. In this case dividend cash flow is equal to expenses. Will he run out of money?

Dividend rate6.00%
Spending per mth$5,000.00
AgeYearPrincipalDividendSpendingRemaining Principal
402023$1,000,000.00$60,000.00$60,000.00$1,000,000.00
412024$1,000,000.00$60,000.00$60,000.00$1,000,000.00
422025$1,000,000.00$60,000.00$60,000.00$1,000,000.00
432026$1,000,000.00$60,000.00$60,000.00$1,000,000.00
442027$1,000,000.00$60,000.00$60,000.00$1,000,000.00
452028$1,000,000.00$60,000.00$60,000.00$1,000,000.00
462029$1,000,000.00$60,000.00$60,000.00$1,000,000.00
472030$1,000,000.00$60,000.00$60,000.00$1,000,000.00
482031$1,000,000.00$60,000.00$60,000.00$1,000,000.00
492032$1,000,000.00$60,000.00$60,000.00$1,000,000.00
502033$1,000,000.00$60,000.00$60,000.00$1,000,000.00
512034$1,000,000.00$60,000.00$60,000.00$1,000,000.00
522035$1,000,000.00$60,000.00$60,000.00$1,000,000.00
532036$1,000,000.00$60,000.00$60,000.00$1,000,000.00
542037$1,000,000.00$60,000.00$60,000.00$1,000,000.00
552038$1,000,000.00$60,000.00$60,000.00$1,000,000.00
562039$1,000,000.00$60,000.00$60,000.00$1,000,000.00
572040$1,000,000.00$60,000.00$60,000.00$1,000,000.00
582041$1,000,000.00$60,000.00$60,000.00$1,000,000.00
592042$1,000,000.00$60,000.00$60,000.00$1,000,000.00
602043$1,000,000.00$60,000.00$60,000.00$1,000,000.00
612044$1,000,000.00$60,000.00$60,000.00$1,000,000.00
622045$1,000,000.00$60,000.00$60,000.00$1,000,000.00
632046$1,000,000.00$60,000.00$60,000.00$1,000,000.00
642047$1,000,000.00$60,000.00$60,000.00$1,000,000.00
652048$1,000,000.00$60,000.00$60,000.00$1,000,000.00

Conclusion: This person/family still has a million left at 65 years old even if he has cashflow equal to expenses. At 65 years old, CPF life will kick in which should give additional cashflow.

Scenario 3 (optimistic 7% yield):

Let’s assume a family or someone spend 5k per month but have 1 million dollars invested at 7% dividend returns, retire at 40 years old. In this case dividend cash flow is more than expenses. Will he run out of money?

Dividend rate7.00%
Spending per mth$5,000.00
AgeYearPrincipalDividendSpendingRemaining Principal
402023$1,000,000.00$70,000.00$60,000.00$1,010,000.00
412024$1,010,000.00$70,700.00$60,000.00$1,020,700.00
422025$1,020,700.00$71,449.00$60,000.00$1,032,149.00
432026$1,032,149.00$72,250.43$60,000.00$1,044,399.43
442027$1,044,399.43$73,107.96$60,000.00$1,057,507.39
452028$1,057,507.39$74,025.52$60,000.00$1,071,532.91
462029$1,071,532.91$75,007.30$60,000.00$1,086,540.21
472030$1,086,540.21$76,057.81$60,000.00$1,102,598.03
482031$1,102,598.03$77,181.86$60,000.00$1,119,779.89
492032$1,119,779.89$78,384.59$60,000.00$1,138,164.48
502033$1,138,164.48$79,671.51$60,000.00$1,157,835.99
512034$1,157,835.99$81,048.52$60,000.00$1,178,884.51
522035$1,178,884.51$82,521.92$60,000.00$1,201,406.43
532036$1,201,406.43$84,098.45$60,000.00$1,225,504.88
542037$1,225,504.88$85,785.34$60,000.00$1,251,290.22
552038$1,251,290.22$87,590.32$60,000.00$1,278,880.54
562039$1,278,880.54$89,521.64$60,000.00$1,308,402.17
572040$1,308,402.17$91,588.15$60,000.00$1,339,990.33
582041$1,339,990.33$93,799.32$60,000.00$1,373,789.65
592042$1,373,789.65$96,165.28$60,000.00$1,409,954.92
602043$1,409,954.92$98,696.84$60,000.00$1,448,651.77
612044$1,448,651.77$101,405.62$60,000.00$1,490,057.39
622045$1,490,057.39$104,304.02$60,000.00$1,534,361.41
632046$1,534,361.41$107,405.30$60,000.00$1,581,766.71
642047$1,581,766.71$110,723.67$60,000.00$1,632,490.38
652048$1,632,490.38$114,274.33$60,000.00$1,686,764.70

Conclusion: This person/family has 1.7 million left at 65 years old even if he has cashflow more than expenses. At 65 years old, CPF life will kick in which should give additional cashflow.

Scenario 3 (worst case 4% yield):

Let’s assume a family or someone spend 5k per month but have 1 million dollars invested at 4% dividend returns, retire at 40 years old. In this case dividend cash flow is much lesser than expenses. Will he run out of money?

Dividend rate4.00%
Spending per mth$5,000.00
AgeYearPrincipalDividendSpendingRemaining Principal
402023$1,000,000.00$40,000.00$60,000.00$980,000.00
412024$980,000.00$39,200.00$60,000.00$959,200.00
422025$959,200.00$38,368.00$60,000.00$937,568.00
432026$937,568.00$37,502.72$60,000.00$915,070.72
442027$915,070.72$36,602.83$60,000.00$891,673.55
452028$891,673.55$35,666.94$60,000.00$867,340.49
462029$867,340.49$34,693.62$60,000.00$842,034.11
472030$842,034.11$33,681.36$60,000.00$815,715.47
482031$815,715.47$32,628.62$60,000.00$788,344.09
492032$788,344.09$31,533.76$60,000.00$759,877.86
502033$759,877.86$30,395.11$60,000.00$730,272.97
512034$730,272.97$29,210.92$60,000.00$699,483.89
522035$699,483.89$27,979.36$60,000.00$667,463.25
532036$667,463.25$26,698.53$60,000.00$634,161.78
542037$634,161.78$25,366.47$60,000.00$599,528.25
552038$599,528.25$23,981.13$60,000.00$563,509.38
562039$563,509.38$22,540.38$60,000.00$526,049.75
572040$526,049.75$21,041.99$60,000.00$487,091.74
582041$487,091.74$19,483.67$60,000.00$446,575.41
592042$446,575.41$17,863.02$60,000.00$404,438.43
602043$404,438.43$16,177.54$60,000.00$360,615.97
612044$360,615.97$14,424.64$60,000.00$315,040.60
622045$315,040.60$12,601.62$60,000.00$267,642.23
632046$267,642.23$10,705.69$60,000.00$218,347.92
642047$218,347.92$8,733.92$60,000.00$167,081.83
652048$167,081.83$6,683.27$60,000.00$113,765.11

Conclusion: This person/family only has 160k left at 65 years old if he has cashflow less than expenses. At 65 years old, CPF life will kick in which should give additional cashflow. He should still survive until last day on earth with CPF life kicking in at 65. In the very worst case, he can sell off his flat or rent out his flat.

Let’s summaries the outcomes

Everyone will likely survive with 1 million even in the worst-case scenario of 4% in dividend income (This is not difficult to achieve, especially in such high interest rate environment – your FD, saving accounts, MMF, SSB etc or very low risk stock can get 4% easily).

Do you think everyone really think too much and forgot to live life to optimal? Remember the book that i have shared earlier – Die with Zero. See this link again and below.

Love your life with your heart

Here’s the thing: You only live once. And by “once” I mean one time, because we all die at some point. But that doesn’t mean that your life is over when you die—it means that it ends. And then what?

Where does your soul go when your body dies? Did you spend your entire existence worrying about what other people thought of you? Did you waste time on things that ultimately didn’t matter in the grand scheme of things? Did fear keep you from doing anything because there might be consequences, but then again maybe not?

If this sounds familiar to you, let me tell you something: It’s okay. We all make mistakes; we all have regrets and look back on our lives wondering what could’ve been if only we had done X differently. But it’s never too late to change course and start living a better life today—and tomorrow!

Stop overthinking everything. Life is too short to be stressed about every little thing.

  • Stop worrying about the things you can’t control. Worrying doesn’t help anything, so don’t waste your time on it.
  • Stop stressing about things you can’t change. Again, this is a waste of energy and time; focus on the present moment instead of what happened in the past or might happen in the future.
  • Don’t worry about what other people think of you—they’re often wrong anyway!
  • Don’t worry about the past—you can’t change it! Instead focus on making today as good as possible by doing something positive.

Good articles that you should read!

People are drawn to dividend investing.

Why? Firstly, dividends provide a regular stream of income, allowing investors to receive a portion of the company’s profits on a periodic basis. This can be particularly attractive for individuals seeking consistent cash flow or looking to supplement their existing income. Additionally, dividend investing is often viewed as a more stable and predictable investment strategy compared to relying solely on capital appreciation.

I always write and share articles, especially on dividends which many people love them. Do read them!

Alternatively, you can go the right side of my page, there is a search bar where you can simply search “dividend” to see all my articles related to dividends!

Of course, you can search for other things that would interest you such as “Careyourpresent”, “Reits”, “Side Hustles”, “Fixed Incomes”, “Savings” etc.

CAREYOURPRESENT

Money just buy you the chance of freedom.

When you are young and working, you exchange time for money. When you are old, you can have lots of money but you can’t buy time back, especially the things that you have missed while busying striking out in career. Of course, if you love your career, and consciously know that you are missing out the first time your child walk or talk, that’s ok, but if you are the other spectrum, please do something about it.

Your kids grew up and they no longer need you to accompany them. They no longer want to sit on your lap to share/do things with you…all these time you spent in your 9 to 6 or even longer cubicles…can the money that you have earned by you back these?

We always thought we have more time with our old parents, but we are wrong. Time with them is ticking away every day. One day it will suddenly be gone. There is no regret medicine, no reset in time. Gone is gone and cannot come back. No matter you are billionaires or millionaires, you cannot reset this.

We always thought that we have more time with our spouse every day, but we are wrong. One day they will be gone too. When you read this, please go tell your spouse that you love him/her and he or she is the best thing that you ever had in your life.

I have picked out some of the more life reflecting articles of the CAREYOURPRESENT series. Do read them:

You can read more about my articles on Careyourpresent via the Category “Careyourpresent” or simply click “Careyourpresent” via the main menu bar.

REMEMBER:

Love your life daily.

You have one less day with your spouse, parents, children and yourself.

Time is ticking away.

For each passing day,

Enjoy and Treasure your Life!

For those who are interested in regular updates of my articles, please join the others to sign up for my free newsletter to has my newest blogposts sent to your mailbox for free!

For real time exclusive updates on market news/life (especially Crypto markets where the news move fast, important news will be shared directly via tweets or telegrams), do also join the platforms below and engage with other like-minded people!

You may also contact me via [email protected].

If you’re looking referral codes, do check out my referral and ebook page. Give it a try and who knows? You might end up loving these platforms! To be absolutely fair to all the readers, I am definitely using all these companies and they are useful to me! Likely will be useful to you too!

At the same referral and ebook page, you can also download my free ebooks and other free resources.

For quick references to these resources, you can see below.

  • Ebooks and other useful resources on enhancing productivity (Investment, Excel, Notion etc). Currently most of it are free at this moment (subject to change).
  • WeBull: A powerful brokerage with nice free welcome gift. You can refer to my guide here on how to signup! 4 Simple step only! Click here to register a new account!
  • MoneyOwl: You can use this 6SHU-93MC to get free grab vouchers and highly safe liquid cash fund account.
  • Trust Bank – You will enjoy free FairPrice E-Voucher referral if you sign up via my referral code KNDBPEPT. Simply download the Trust Bank SG App on the App Store or Google Play Store. Tap on “Use referral code” immediately after you start the app and key in: KNDBPEPT
  • FSMOne: P0413007. Good account to keep liquid cash in autosweep and to purchase investment at low fee.
  • Hostinger: You can use this link for hosting your new website. 20% off hosting!
  • Crypto.com: Use my referral link https://crypto.com/app/h92xdfarkq to sign up for Crypto.com and we both get $25 USD 🙂

FIRE (Financial Independent Retire Early) but still working!

Posted on by careyourpresent

I take inspiration to write this article from the recent posts of sg finance bloggers who goes back to work despite FIRE. Few examples,

Christ from Tree of Prosperity despite FIRE (Financial Independent, Retire Early) very early (likely with huge buffers) shared in his recent post that he went back to legal work.

Happyreitinvestor FIRE but he went on to explore real-estate business.

Financial Independent, Retire Early

When people talk about financial independence and early retirement, they usually focus on the benefits of having more free time in your life. While this is true, it’s not the only benefit that comes with achieving financial independence. It also gives you the freedom to choose how you want to live your life without having to worry about money as much as before you achieved it.

Financial independence gives you the freedom to choose how you want to live your life without having to worry about money as much as before you achieved it.

Financial independence gives you the freedom to choose how you want to live your life without having to worry about money as much as before you achieved it. When you are financially independent, you can do whatever you want with your time. Some of the things that people choose to do include:

  • Spending more time with family and friends
  • Traveling more
  • Spending more time on hobbies and interests

Achieving financial independence at an early age gives people more time to pursue hobbies, volunteer, or find other meaningful work in retirement.

Financial independence is a choice, and one that many people make to pursue their interests and passions. Achieving financial independence at an early age gives people more time to pursue hobbies, volunteer, or find other meaningful work in retirement. Financial independence makes pursuing those interests less of a burden because there’s no longer the need to work just for the sake of paying bills or having money coming in each month.

Financial independence is also beneficial because it allows you to take advantage of opportunities when they arise without worrying about how much they pay you or whether they could jeopardize your financial freedom. An opportunity may come along that would allow you to travel around the world—and if something like this presents itself now that you don’t have full-time employment obligations then taking it might be ideal for your own happiness as well as future earnings potential (because working abroad increases skill set).

The main reason people say they don’t want to be retired is because they would be bored.

There are a lot of people who say they don’t want to retire because they would be bored. I know that feeling all too well. Boredom is one of the biggest reasons why people don’t like their jobs, but we can be bored at home as well. The difference is that at home we have the time and space to think about what’s missing from our lives, whereas work often fills up our schedules so much that it leaves no room for self-reflection or reflection on life goals and aspirations.

So what can you do? You need something new, something different – and perhaps even challenging! Just as you wouldn’t want your kids (if you have children) sitting around watching TV all day long instead of going outside playing sports or learning how to play an instrument, you shouldn’t let yourself get bored either! Here are some ideas:

  • Join a book club
  • Make more friends
  • Take up photography (or any other hobby)
  • Learn how to cook new foods or make better versions of your favorite dishes
  • Spend more time with family

Your brain benefits from engaging in challenging activities.

Your brain benefits from engaging in challenging activities. The human brain is designed to learn, solve problems, and grow. It is like a muscle that needs exercise to stay healthy and active. When you challenge your mind with new tasks and activities, it strengthens itself for future tasks.

When you are working on a project that requires creativity or problem solving, your brain releases dopamine which is the same chemical released when you eat chocolate or have sex! This makes us feel good about accomplishing something difficult; it’s how we know we are doing something right!

Working after reaching financial independence is a choice that allows you to continue earning income without worrying about how much you need to make to retire comfortably.

Financially independent and still working? I’m glad you asked!

Working after reaching financial independence is a choice that allows you to continue earning income without worrying about how much you need to make to retire comfortably. It doesn’t mean your retirement goals have changed or that your plan has shifted, but it can be an enjoyable way to feel productive and give back at the same time.

This may also mean stay connected with society—and help others in the society by giving back through contributing to the workforce. Of course, some FIRE but still has some innate worry about not enough money due to sudden expected condition etc…

Mental challenges help keep the brain sharp and stay alert.

As you can see, being financially independent is not a bad thing. In fact, it’s quite the opposite. Being financially independent allows you to experience many more opportunities that you may have missed out on in the past. Not only will you be able to travel and learn more about yourself, but your brain will also stay sharp and alert as well! The key is to challenge yourself mentally by doing things such as reading books or going on adventures.

Freedom

It’s important to remember that financial independence doesn’t mean you have to stop working. Instead, it gives you the freedom to choose how much time and money you want to spend on your career. This is especially true if you’re just starting out in life or want more time for family members and friends before retiring.

Good articles that you should read!

People are drawn to dividend investing.

Why? Firstly, dividends provide a regular stream of income, allowing investors to receive a portion of the company’s profits on a periodic basis. This can be particularly attractive for individuals seeking consistent cash flow or looking to supplement their existing income. Additionally, dividend investing is often viewed as a more stable and predictable investment strategy compared to relying solely on capital appreciation.

I always write and share articles, especially on dividends which many people love them. Do read them!

Alternatively, you can go the right side of my page, there is a search bar where you can simply search “dividend” to see all my articles related to dividends!

Of course, you can search for other things that would interest you such as “Careyourpresent”, “Reits”, “Side Hustles”, “Fixed Incomes”, “Savings” etc.

CAREYOURPRESENT

Money just buy you the chance of freedom.

When you are young and working, you exchange time for money. When you are old, you can have lots of money but you can’t buy time back, especially the things that you have missed while busying striking out in career. Of course, if you love your career, and consciously know that you are missing out the first time your child walk or talk, that’s ok, but if you are the other spectrum, please do something about it.

Your kids grew up and they no longer need you to accompany them. They no longer want to sit on your lap to share/do things with you…all these time you spent in your 9 to 6 or even longer cubicles…can the money that you have earned by you back these?

We always thought we have more time with our old parents, but we are wrong. Time with them is ticking away every day. One day it will suddenly be gone. There is no regret medicine, no reset in time. Gone is gone and cannot come back. No matter you are billionaires or millionaires, you cannot reset this.

We always thought that we have more time with our spouse every day, but we are wrong. One day they will be gone too. When you read this, please go tell your spouse that you love him/her and he or she is the best thing that you ever had in your life.

I have picked out some of the more life reflecting articles of the CAREYOURPRESENT series. Do read them:

You can read more about my articles on Careyourpresent via the Category “Careyourpresent” or simply click “Careyourpresent” via the main menu bar.

REMEMBER:

Love your life daily.

You have one less day with your spouse, parents, children and yourself.

Time is ticking away.

For each passing day,

Enjoy and Treasure your Life!

For those who are interested in regular updates of my articles, please join the others to sign up for my free newsletter to has my newest blogposts sent to your mailbox for free!

For real time exclusive updates on market news/life (especially Crypto markets where the news move fast, important news will be shared directly via tweets or telegrams), do also join the platforms below and engage with other like-minded people!

You may also contact me via [email protected].

If you’re looking referral codes, do check out my referral and ebook page. Give it a try and who knows? You might end up loving these platforms! To be absolutely fair to all the readers, I am definitely using all these companies and they are useful to me! Likely will be useful to you too!

At the same referral and ebook page, you can also download my free ebooks and other free resources.

For quick references to these resources, you can see below.

  • Ebooks and other useful resources on enhancing productivity (Investment, Excel, Notion etc). Currently most of it are free at this moment (subject to change).
  • WeBull: A powerful brokerage with nice free welcome gift. You can refer to my guide here on how to signup! 4 Simple step only! Click here to register a new account!
  • MoneyOwl: You can use this 6SHU-93MC to get free grab vouchers and highly safe liquid cash fund account.
  • Trust Bank – You will enjoy free FairPrice E-Voucher referral if you sign up via my referral code KNDBPEPT. Simply download the Trust Bank SG App on the App Store or Google Play Store. Tap on “Use referral code” immediately after you start the app and key in: KNDBPEPT
  • FSMOne: P0413007. Good account to keep liquid cash in autosweep and to purchase investment at low fee.
  • Hostinger: You can use this link for hosting your new website. 20% off hosting!
  • Crypto.com: Use my referral link https://crypto.com/app/h92xdfarkq to sign up for Crypto.com and we both get $25 USD 🙂

Achieving Financial Freedom FIRE In CRYPTO!

Posted on by careyourpresent

Similar to traditional investors, DeFI/Crypto investors love the staking yields, attractive APR/APY etc! Many people are always having the of wet dream of FIRE (Financial Freedom and Retire Early)! One of the main way that everyone know is passive income > expenses. But how do you get passive income?

The most common is dividend income. Put 1 million of your capital at 6% yield in dividend stock would generate $60k per year or $5k per month. If your expenses is lower than $5k per month, you can quit rat race! Then you can FIRE!

For Crypto in 2021, this is even sexier. I am sure that if you are actively in the Crypto world in 2021, there are tons of protocol that advertise xxx% APR/APY or even xxxx% APR/APY? WOW! Great! We can use this DeFI yield to achieve Financial Freedom in Crypto!

How sexy would it be if you heard that this particular DeFi Protocol is generating 300% APR? Would you put your money in this DeFi site? By putting your money in this DeFI protocol, wow, you could FIRE EASILY! How does it work?

Let’s put numbers into perspective!

Created by yours truely Careyourpresent

I am sure many of the investors/traders, wet dreamers of FIRE, Financial Freedom sure have planned and drafted the table above. Then they would look at the table above daily, making wet dreams daily, dreaming of achieving their goals. In fact, the Crypto narrative of high APY/APR make this dream come true faster!

Look at the table above. Wow! For a portfolio of 1 millions dollars, you can generate $127K per year, $10k per month, $2.5K per week, $350 per day! Yes! Financial Freedom! The best thing is for Crypto you only need to put in 3% of your 1 million capital, you can easily generate $90k per year, $7500 per month!

That mean you are using 3% of your capital to earn 71% of your passive income ($90K out of $120K)! Higher Risk gives higher return (in fact, very very high return! Together with Stablecoin yield of 20% (hehe, guess many people should know why I mentioned 20% hehe…UST, in case your don’t know), I can easily FIRE! HUAT AH!

The best part is this is only 3% of your 1 million capital, even if DeFi is higher risk, so what?

In fact, I am only risking 5% of my portfolio to get majority of my yield such that my passive income > expenses! Can quit race race and retire early!

Ok, back to real life, what happen in the end? I guess many would have know now! The 5% of your portfolio is gone! In absolute term, it is $50k. OUCH! That’s at least few months of my monthly salary! It hurt! For some who got greedy after keep getting “nice yield” after putting in small amount initially, then slowly slowly get greedy and put in larger part of your capital (like 20%or more etc), you lose much more of your hard earned money! Then Crypto investor would say Crypto Winter is here, give up on Crypto, better go back to TradiFi. Sound familar?

(In case anyone don’t understand the Crypto terminologies used above, you can refer to this post).

The above narrative are very common in 2021. Now, there is a new narrative in CT which I would like to bring to your attention.

Created by yours truely Careyourpresent

What is real yield and what does it mean? You can see many CT talking about it. Let me give a summary of this.

Real Yield is defined as yield derived from the generation of “real” revenue (like Token Swaps, AMM trading fees etc), as opposed to revenue derived from the inflationary token emissions (as in 2021).

If we time travel back to 2021, in order to acquire more users, many of the DeFi protocols incentivize liquidity/attract more TVL by offering nice attractive high XXX% or YYYY% APR/APY. I am sure that you have heard of this last year, if I provide ETH – USDC in a liquidity pool, I get this protocl DeFi token at 300% APR/APY. WOW! Passive income!

The objective by these protocols is to buy time to create more sustainable revenue-generating products (of course some evil protocol use YOU as EXIT Liquidity). Eventually, as (1) the yield comes from inflationary tokens which has no real value/revenue generated (2) more users will rotate to the next DeFi once the emission incentives from the xx protocol tokens start to decrease, the price of the token of the DeFi protocol collapse. Retail interest and greed was at an all time high in 2021. Of course there are smart sharks that still wins by farming the yield and run after know the tokens will collapse soon (Refer to this post to see how monitor sharks in Crypto).

Do you still remember, Wonderland? Time? Luna UST? Cronos, DeFI kingdoms Jewel? Mad Meerkat Finance? Etc. They marketed and entice DeFi users with high APR/APY. People FOMO goes in and whack with their hard earned money, in the end when the tides goes naked, everyone become poor. (See 80000% APY! Wow let’s ape!)

Back to current time, the narrative now is to use DeFI protocal/Dexs with Real Yield instead of “fake” yield in 2021. More real revenue = more yield paid to users. The term “Real Yield” become the main story line now. How long this narrative will substain? Your guess is as good ad mine.

For an example on real yield currently, you can refer to my post on the recent GMX. People see real revenue generated from the GMX Dex. GLP Arbitrium even give around 20% APR to users as it accrues 70% of the platform’s generated fees. These fees are also paid in your favorite ETH (this is enticing to many people especially with the upcoming ETH merge). Of course there are other protocols who are real yield generating too, but I won’t share more examples in this post.

Source: GMX.io

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