How much are you earning per annum?

Those thinking of retiring in Malaysia better check out the terms and conditions for doing so...likely need MM2H where u need to deposit a sum in Malaysian bank and need rm10k income from pension...dunno if rental and stock dividend is counted...better clarify that. Alternatively, some come in once a mth to stamp their passport, using MACS but dunno if longterm is allowed or not...

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Thanks for sharing this post. It makes me think of retiring soon. I'm 40, single. I own a $500k flat (paid up) and a stocks portfolio which gives me $30k pa dividend. If I sell my flat and invest, I can get another $30k pa in dividends. So total is $60k dividends pa or RM160k pa. Can surely retire!

You can retire without selling your flat. $30k is probably enough if you spend prudently. Another way is to go into semi-retirement, since you are still young, and continue building up your passive income

Originally Posted by Unregistered

please see replies below

Rather optimistic assumptions.

1. 5% yield so easy to find? Risk free?

of course it is not risk free but it is achievable. learn how to invest properly.

2. Cost of condo RM1k? You sure or not. Those very old and scary type is it.

sure you can get. due to the massive property OVERSUPPLY in malaysia in places like KL, penang and JB, there are many empty condos and landed houses. you can rent a nice 3 bedroom condo with a nice pool and gym for just RM1k pm. just go to Propertyguru Malaysia website and search. you don't need to buy, just rent.

3. Living expenditure on food, should allocate RM100 per day. That will be RM3000 already per month.

RM100 per day for an old retired couple is too much. RM30 per day for them is enough. you don't eat out everyday, you can cook your own meals.


Need to relook into the calculation.

I'm not sure about the other assumptions, but 5% return should be achievable, if you give yourself a reasonable time-frame to accummulate high-dividend paying stocks and/or REITS.

Crude oil prices down again. Petrol prices also down. This means the cost of running a car is lower, so demand for cars will rise.

If you have been taking a taxi, has your monthly taxi cost gone down? No. Taxi fares have not gone down. So taxi uncles now making more money as their diesel cost has gone down. So why make taxi uncles rich while you still have to face the inconvenience of waiting for a taxi or worse, not getting a taxi when you need it most.

Owning a car is still the best as it gives you the convenience of moving around. If you want to buy a new car for yourself or buy a new car for your wife or a new car for your adult son, now is the best time to buy (buy the cars for them as birthday gifts) as petrol prices is now much cheaper.

Demand for new cars and COEs will definitely rise and so the prices of COEs will rise.

Anyway, new cars are still affordable. You can get a good reliable car for about $100k - $120k. There are a few of these you can choose from. Don't need to waste money on expensive cars costing more than $120k. Might as well invest your money on high dividend yield stocks. If you invest $100k, a 6% dividend yield will give you $6k pa dividends which you can use to pay for road tax, insurance, petrol etc. Remember, cars are depreciating assets.

Buy your new car now before COE prices go higher.

COE supply to increase massively this year, just wait for few more months for cheaper COE
If you wait til Dec 2015, you can even cheaper COEs as many people will get caught by higher mortgage rates due to US Fed hike and will not spend on non essential big ticket items like cars.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Crude oil prices down again. Petrol prices also down. This means the cost of running a car is lower, so demand for cars will rise.

If you have been taking a taxi, has your monthly taxi cost gone down? No. Taxi fares have not gone down. So taxi uncles now making more money as their diesel cost has gone down. So why make taxi uncles rich while you still have to face the inconvenience of waiting for a taxi or worse, not getting a taxi when you need it most.

Owning a car is still the best as it gives you the convenience of moving around. If you want to buy a new car for yourself or buy a new car for your wife or a new car for your adult son, now is the best time to buy (buy the cars for them as birthday gifts) as petrol prices is now much cheaper.

Demand for new cars and COEs will definitely rise and so the prices of COEs will rise.

Anyway, new cars are still affordable. You can get a good reliable car for about $100k - $120k. There are a few of these you can choose from. Don't need to waste money on expensive cars costing more than $120k. Might as well invest your money on high dividend yield stocks. If you invest $100k, a 6% dividend yield will give you $6k pa dividends which you can use to pay for road tax, insurance, petrol etc. Remember, cars are depreciating assets.

Buy your new car now before COE prices go higher.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

COE supply to increase massively this year, just wait for few more months for cheaper COE
If you wait til Dec 2015, you can even cheaper COEs as many people will get caught by higher mortgage rates due to US Fed hike and will not spend on non essential big ticket items like cars.

Yes. Agree that it will drop like a rock to probably $30k in mid 2016.

Huat ah!

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Crude oil prices down again. Petrol prices also down. This means the cost of running a car is lower, so demand for cars will rise.

If you have been taking a taxi, has your monthly taxi cost gone down? No. Taxi fares have not gone down. So taxi uncles now making more money as their diesel cost has gone down. So why make taxi uncles rich while you still have to face the inconvenience of waiting for a taxi or worse, not getting a taxi when you need it most.

Owning a car is still the best as it gives you the convenience of moving around. If you want to buy a new car for yourself or buy a new car for your wife or a new car for your adult son, now is the best time to buy (buy the cars for them as birthday gifts) as petrol prices is now much cheaper.

Demand for new cars and COEs will definitely rise and so the prices of COEs will rise.

Anyway, new cars are still affordable. You can get a good reliable car for about $100k - $120k. There are a few of these you can choose from. Don't need to waste money on expensive cars costing more than $120k. Might as well invest your money on high dividend yield stocks. If you invest $100k, a 6% dividend yield will give you $6k pa dividends which you can use to pay for road tax, insurance, petrol etc. Remember, cars are depreciating assets.

Buy your new car now before COE prices go higher.

The key message here is to become a taxi driver.

Sadly COE price dropping to $30k will not happen,

1. More and more people due for retirement are choosing to renew / continue their employment. Some of these potential retirees who don't drive are now looking to buy their cars when they withdraw their CPF money. Those currently driving will continue. Already a few of my older colleagues (58 - 60 yo) have bought new cars.

2. COE supply from large number of cars being scrapped will be stretched over a longer period to stabilize supply and prevent a supply glut. The gahmen calls this "clawback" to spread the COE to years expecting lower COE supply.

3. > 90% of car owners scrapping their cars will be looking for another car.

4. Car population growth rate will be reduced further to maybe 0.1% because gahmen has put more buses on the road and more MRT stations are opening.

5. Roads are very congested already

6. It is indeed true more and more families are owning 2 cars. Mainly because parents are delaying their retirements while children joining workforce. My family is an example.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Yes. Agree that it will drop like a rock to probably $30k in mid 2016.

Huat ah!

Originally Posted by Unregistered

COE supply to increase massively this year, just wait for few more months for cheaper COE
If you wait til Dec 2015, you can even cheaper COEs as many people will get caught by higher mortgage rates due to US Fed hike and will not spend on non essential big ticket items like cars.

While supply may increase, demand will increase more than supply due to these factors:

1. There are 100,000 car owners looking to change to new cars in 2015 and another 100,000 car owners changing to new cars in 2016. This is the demand only from current car owners.

2. Additional demand for new cars will come from new drivers, especially young graduates with high income.

3. Increase in population.

4. Families looking to buy their 2nd and 3rd cars. This is becoming very common as families get more affluent. For instance, if you have two high income executive couple, each of them would NEED a car for their work.

5. Even not so high income families can buy a new car after they flip their BTO flats. For instance, the bought their BTO flat at $200k five years ago and now they sell it for $500k. They will then get a profit of $300k which they can use to buy a brand new car. That is why you see so many new cars in HDB estates, sometimes difficult to get parking especially when families have two or three cars per household.

6. More families are getting richer. Ten years ago, their household income maybe only $100k pa but ten years fast forward, their household income is now $200k pa or more. With this kind of income, buying a $100k car is no big deal. $70k COE is cheap relative to their household income. $70k COE means only $7k pa, which is only 3.5% of their $200k annual income.

In summary, you can expect high demand which will be higher than supply. COE prices will inevitably rise.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

While supply may increase, demand will increase more than supply due to these factors:

1. There are 100,000 car owners looking to change to new cars in 2015 and another 100,000 car owners changing to new cars in 2016. This is the demand only from current car owners.

2. Additional demand for new cars will come from new drivers, especially young graduates with high income.

3. Increase in population.

4. Families looking to buy their 2nd and 3rd cars. This is becoming very common as families get more affluent. For instance, if you have two high income executive couple, each of them would NEED a car for their work.

5. Even not so high income families can buy a new car after they flip their BTO flats. For instance, the bought their BTO flat at $200k five years ago and now they sell it for $500k. They will then get a profit of $300k which they can use to buy a brand new car. That is why you see so many new cars in HDB estates, sometimes difficult to get parking especially when families have two or three cars per household.

6. More families are getting richer. Ten years ago, their household income maybe only $100k pa but ten years fast forward, their household income is now $200k pa or more. With this kind of income, buying a $100k car is no big deal. $70k COE is cheap relative to their household income. $70k COE means only $7k pa, which is only 3.5% of their $200k annual income.

In summary, you can expect high demand which will be higher than supply. COE prices will inevitably rise.

If the additional demand could afford existing COE level they would have entered the market earlier and not hang on to their old rides till 10 years. It just means that COE will drop as many people couldnt afford todays level and will give up driving.