Category: Retire Wealthy & Wise
What’s It Like For A Singaporean To Be Living In Johor, Malaysia? Let’s Find Out Together!
Harvey 0 Comments Planning your Retirement Retire Wealthy & Wise Retiree Tips and Tricks
Hey guys! So guess what? You know that we've
been doing a road trip right, from Penang all the way to Johor, so we are now sitting
in my friend's house in Iskandar Puteri in the state of Johor. So this video is going
to be a little bit different than all our previous videos because this is just a casual
conversation between two friends talking about the differences between living in Malaysia,
Singapore and this is my friend Sox who's a Singaporean. Here's a fun fact about Sox, okay.
She is the first woman Commanding Officer in the Singapore Artillery, so that means she's
pretty famous in Singapore, guys. I guess. So hi everybody, I'm Sox, I'm a Singaporean living
in Johor and I've been living here for the last 6 months. Sox, so why did you decide to move here?
Okay so I think the key thing here, as you can see, it's the physical space.
You know it's like coming
in here, driving into the estate, really is like wow just so much physical space and with the physical
space comes emotional space. It just opens up. Oh what do you mean by that? So in Singapore,
you know, everybody is going about their life and everything, you know, even though I haven't, have
not been working right and but with my mom and the helper and all you know like activities just
keep going on, it just like you don't have a lot of emotional space so this gives me that openness
to like oh okay, morning you can hear the birds, you know, evening you can see the sunset, morning you
can see the sunrise, just running around the estate, you know, greeting people in the morning.
It's like it's different. Whereas in Singapore even though I go and run, you know, and I don't I see
people that I see often running along the canal but there's no like hi morning, you know, it's like
everybody is on a mission, I'm finishing this run etc etc.
So it's, so the kind of emotional space
is just very rigid. Rigid, very you know, I mind my own business, you mind your own business and we
done. Yeah, I mean, Singapore has always been the do do, do. That's right. Yeah so I think it's not just
the physical space but the the emotional space and then also it gives my mother the space right. She
gets to do whatever she wants. Gallivanting, you know and you know, morning she goes for exercise,
afternoon she goes for her afternoon activity. She feels a lot freer without, you know, having to
cater maybe to ask me having dinner, having lunch, you know things like that.
She handles her life
basically and I handle mine, you know. It's, I think, that gives everybody that the space and also peace
of mind. Yes I think to me, it's really space, you know, to be able, to yeah, to be able to be me, you
know, to be able enjoy the little things in life. If I'm not wrong, this house is situated in
a golf course right? Yes and that's the reason why we chose it. Okay. The golf course is just
like 4 minutes drive away, you know, and I play golf right, so it's no brainer to get a, to get
a place right next to the golf course.
And what facilities are there? There is swimming pool,
yeah, there's also a gym, right at the golf, at the clubhouse. Okay and all this is part, like
do you have to pay to be a member? How does it work? Yeah so you pay to, you pay to use. Okay. Per
time or per month? Yes per time. Pay to, so pay to use the pool, the gym and also the golf course?
Yes. Ah so actually it's pretty good. There's no obligations or there's no long-term commitment
in that sense. Yeah. Oh this is the first time I've heard of something like that cuz usually like,
we went to the golf course in Ipoh right, it's a it's a membership.
Yeah so this one also has
a membership. The only difference is they also allow people who walk in. Okay yeah I guess
to maintain the golf course. Yeah. Can you share any more about the house? It's a lovely house.
Yeah so this is an Inter Terrace. Okay. You can park cars outside, there's four bedrooms,
one downstairs which is like, I think it's a Granny's room and then three upstairs.
And
how many bathrooms? In total three bathrooms. Wow okay. So the grand question. How much is it per
month? You guess. Wah lau ask me to guess ah. Okay. RM3050 per month. Way less. So to take you out your
misery, it is actually RM2300 a month. Wow this insane! So Sox, it has been 6 months. How do you enjoy JB so far? Well other than the space, it's the makan lah. Of course, of course. Yeah, yeah so guess what? In
the last 6 months that, you know, we've been here, we don't have to cook a single meal. Really? Yeah. So
every time is eat out and it's, it's good food okay. I mean the price is of course, you compare to
Singapore, it's way way cheaper but I think it's the quality of the food. Okay. The Taste.
Tell us more, tell us more on this. Yeah like you know, you simply, you go to any coffee shop right
you'll find a dim sum and the dim sum quality, it's like what you get in restaurants in Singapore, you
know.
It's different lah, it's just lovely. And your surrounding area, because we drove quite deep into
the estate, how where's the nearest hawker centre or kopitiam? The nearest kopitiam is actually about maybe 2 minutes drive out at the other end because you came in by the main gate. Oh I see. So there
is a back gate, okay. Okay so about 2 minutes ooh okay. So we have very good dim sum down there. We
must go and eat okay. Can. Wow so just by food alone right, how much do you think you save every month
in Singapore dollars? At least 50%. 50%! Yeah and we only, we don't just only eat the hawker food, but of course
hawker food is like damn nice okay, but occasionally we'll go restaurants.
Japanese restaurant, have
steak, Italian restaurant and all. Yeah so it's 50% and it's easily available around your estate
right? Right. So you don't need to actually go into Johor Bahru town to go and get your food right?
Yeah unless I'm going there to buy something, I don't have to go there. So the surrounding like
Gelang Patah, you know, I can't remember the places name. Yeah, we can get a lot of good food and good
stuff. Hey so Sox, I know one, I know you, I'm sure you have done road trips in Malaysia already
right? For sure, for sure. So where have you been? So we went up to KL, Gentings, Ipoh, Penang and also this place called Sekinchan. Yeah we were just there. Yeah so we've done a couple of road trips and
I think the beautiful part about, you know, we are on this side of the Causeway right, we just tsk and go. Whereas when we have to meet our friends, they have to cater in additional hours to meet us.
Yeah
the keyword is hours, not 1 hour. It's hours cuz the Causeway now, the jam is quite insane, you know. Yeah, especially I mean, even though we set off early in the morning, the difference is still at least
2 hours. Yeah ouch. I'm so glad I'm in Penang. Yeah so you know, and then going up there and you
can actually hire cars yeah, private hires and and go. You don't even need to bother
about driving even. That's true. Yeah so then you get there, Grab is so so convenient these days
right. Of course you don't stay in places, you know, you stay within town area and all this yeah
very easy. You know what we should do? We should do a road trip to Terengganu. All of us, that'll be fun!
That'll be fun. How has it been shopping in Johor as compared to Singapore, do you miss anything?
Like can you find everything you need in Johor? Okay so I'm a very simple person right, so the things
I need, basically I find here.
Of course except for like gourmet ice cream. You know, occasionally you want special like Movenpick, Udders, Creamier, they don't have this kind. Yeah, because that one Singapore of
course will have. I think for me, I miss Fair Price the most cuz you know, Fair Price right, so big,
everything is so neatly stacked. Then everything I want, they have. So that yeah, I really miss Fair
Price. Yeah I think what is on a lot of people's minds right is the safety in Johor, cuz I myself as
a Penangnite, I also have that question right. Can you share more about your experience so far? Indeed. So every time I tell people, you know, I live in JB this is the first question they ask me is how is
the safety? Yeah so I don't know, you know, it's probably it's rumors whatever right, okay, really
the estate that we live in, it's very very safe. So it has a outer ring, you know, guard and then,
every individual estate also has its own guard. And when like, when you came in right, the guard will call me to see, to ask if I was expecting visitors.
Okay. Yeah so only when I say okay then
you come. Okay what about like say, when you're traveling for your restaurant food, hawker
food right, what's the sense of safety that you get? I mean it's really a lot of common sense.
Don't anyhow put your phone all over the place right. So generally, you know, and also
because we also dress casual, slippers and all to blend in, yeah so I think generally, I don't see any issue
at all you know. Okay that's a good, that's a huge relief, I would say, cuz I think a lot of our
viewers may have that concern.
I mean, I certainly do, like I and I've been a victim of snatch theft twice
in Penang in the past 20 years ago, so I do have concerns about safety whenever we're traveling to
a new state in Malaysia. So thanks for that. Yeah so I mean, there are some of the neighbors that we
talked to, sometimes they don't even lock their gate when they go away. For like when they drive
out? No, not just drive out, like you know, go for holidays and all. Ha? Even in Penang, we don't do
that. I know right. It's like, you know, quite unusual. For me I thought it was quite unusual but they
do do.
And then when they come back, nothing happened? Nothing happened. So Sox, you seem very happy and well settled here already, 6 months only. So what are your long-term plans? Well I guess you know,
JB seems like quite a viable plan with the cost and everything right and it's also nearer to home
because my mom is growing old right. So you know, for the next couple of years probably still
very nearby then later on, you know, in the longer term maybe 3 months here, 6 months there. I don't
know. Okay. We'll see what happens. Awesome cool! What would you say to people, specifically Singaporeans
who might be even thinking of moving here or even retiring here? Well I'd say, if you actually, if you are
still working and if you work from home most of the time, this is not, this is really good because
you got a lot of space, you know, not cooped up, you know, doing all the zoom and all this.
I think this
is a very good option okay and you don't have to travel in and out daily. Cost wise, you know,
like food already save half, rental and whatever it's no brainer. Okay if you are thinking of
retiring okay, like me who has got a lot of hobbies, I got space to practice my saxophone, I
can do my wood work, I can take up hobbies, now learning TCM and all, like there's just so much
space to do it and at so much lesser cost. Yeah the end of the day, it all comes back to space and
cost. Yes. Yeah so not just space and in terms of cost, you can really stretch your dollar. Yeah
because the Singapore dollar now, what's the exchange rate, Sox? I think it's 3.42 or there about around
there. Do you know when I first came to Singapore 13 years ago, the exchange rate was 2.34 and
I thought wow so much already! Yeah it's already $1.10 more. There you go guys, just a casual
conversation between two friends about Johor and life in general and that's it from me, Fran from
the Corporate Breakout Couple.
Please Like this video and Subscribe to our Channel to join our
YouTube family! See you in the next video! Bye bye!.
World’s Most Infamous Retirement Community (The Villages, Florida) 🇺🇸
Harvey 0 Comments Planning your Retirement Retire Wealthy & Wise Retiree Tips and Tricks
♪ upbeat jazz ♪ Good morning, guys, here we are
outside of The Villages, Florida. The largest 55 year-old-plus
community in the world. From what I've been told
it's Villages on this side of the highway, that side… Takes up a huge amount of land. Over 100,000 people living here. So today we're gonna get in with the locals
and get an understanding of what this lifestyle is like. Let's do this. ♪ upbeat jazz ♪ [woman laughing] PETER: All right, we've landed
here in The Villages. Heather, you're showing us around today? -I am. I am excited.
-Okay. -Your neighbor Jim
has something to show us. I was gonna show you
my golf cart if you feel like it. PETER: Let's do it. I've noticed your golf carts
have some bling, they have the nice rims. -[Heather laughing] Of course. [garage door opening] HEATHER: So here it is,
believe it or not. JIM: It's a '34 Ford.
It's got a 16 horsepower motor in it. I got a '22 CVO Road Glide
and then I've got a 2019 Street Glide, and then I got a lifted 2012 Jeep.
PETER: So what I'm gathering here
is you're not enjoying retirement. -No, never home to enjoy it. [both laughing] It's a luxury of love and I've worked
all my life to do what I want to do now. So it's like I moved down here,
got out of the cold weather, gave up my five acres,
and a zero turn, and a snow blower, and traded in for a pair of shorts. PETER: So this is the rat pack
over here, the gang? JIM: Uh, this is…
MAN: Our little village. -This… The best village in DeLuna.
Like 35 houses here and… PETER: Something tells me every village
is gonna say they're the best. JIM: Well, of course they will. I mean you gotta have pride.
-Okay, okay. But Heather, we're gonna get out
and see a few of them today, right? -Yes, we are. HEATHER: There's a variety of people
from all different backgrounds. WOMAN: Well not only that,
so many documentaries about The Villages is all the negative
and I don't see any negatives. Just a couple people,
and if they're negative it's because they're unhappy
'cause they don't do anything here. I mean, I do so much. PETER: So a lot of stereotypes
in The Villages. There's truth to many stereotypes, right?
HEATHER: Right. PETER: But today we're gonna
get into your guy's life here. 'Cause it's not what you think? -It's not what you think
and it's frustrating. It's frustrating to me.
-Frustrating? -Yeah, I'm frustrated.
-Why? -Uh, people just have a preconceived idea
of what The Villages is about.
You know, my sister-in-law
does this thing where she… When people ask her where she lives
she says she lives in Central Florida. She won't say The Villages
because people just assume that there's a real negative thing
going on here and it's not. -Okay, what's the negative thing
for those that don't know? What is being put out there, let's say?
-[chuckling] Well we're not all swingers.
We don't all have STDs.
-You guys aren't swinging here? -We don't have STDs.
WOMAN: I don't know of anybody. HEATHER: I don't know a swinger. PETER: He's not swinging?
HEATHER: No, we're not swinging. PETER: Okay. [all laughing] HEATHER: You know,
there's 145,000 people here. You know, we're not all…
-Okay, I said 100,000. -No, 145,000.
-Wow, and growing? -And growing, yeah. PETER: I came through a gate…
HEATHER: Yes. -But the guy just had a stop sign and he opened the gate
without asking anything. -Yes.
-What is that? -It's more for just the perception,
you know? Right? That it's secure and so people
just don't come in off of the street, but it's very, very secure here. There's no crime to speak of. -No crime?
-No. We just moved here from Indiana
and my Husband's from Hawaii. We've lived all over the United States
and we love Florida. That's always been our goal. -Even over Hawaii?
-Yes. Just because the cost of living. You know, Florida, it has gone up I think
but it's just really affordable to be here.
I think the homes are real comparable
to just a normal Midwestern town. Like where we're from in Indiana. -Okay, so one of these homes here
on average, what do you think the price is? -You could probably
find something in the low 200's. -Okay.
-It's gonna be smaller. It might have,
like, a one car garage or a car port. People move here
from other parts of the country. I mean I think there's somebody
from every state plus several countries here represented, and people come here with, say,
like, maybe their California money. They sold their house in California,
and made a good profit, and they come here, and it's… They can take their pick.
They could have whatever they wanted. -Right, but it is
the mode of transport, huh? The golf cart?
-Oh yes, absolutely.
All the neighborhoods have regular streets
and they all have a golf cart path, but when you get on the main roads the golf carts have
a whole own road on the side. Like, they have
an entire road to themselves. HEATHER: These bridges are
a real value to us. They've been adding them recently
and it helps connect you. PETER: Right, so I came under this highway.
-Yes, you did. -So do you feel like you're in a separate
bubble, a separate town, country? What is it like?
-It's funny you said bubble. Because that's what people call it. They talk about being in the bubble.
-Okay. -And when you have to go someplace
outside of the bubble, say, to shop, um, you know, it's kind of a… It's different, you know? You go outside of the bubble
maybe to go to dinner someplace or maybe to go shopping,
but there is a lot of that here. There's so many restaurants and shops here.
You really don't have to leave
but some people do. PETER: This is great. HEATHER: And they call them
golf cars not golf carts. I slip back and forth.
-Okay, so that's some inside lingo. -Golf cars?
-Golf cars. HEATHER: Each of the village has a name. So we started in…
We're in the village of DeLuna. Um, but this is Richmond. There are probably hundreds. -Hundreds of villages?
-Oh yeah, they're all over the place. And it's all built around,
like, a postal center, or a swimming pool, that sort of thing.
-Okay. PETER: So Heather, you're…
and maybe some delicate language here… You don't want to call it
retirement community, right? Because you're not retired?
-No, absolutely not. -And you're not
the stereotypical Village resident, right? You're above 55. I'm not gonna ask
but you have to be, right? -Slightly, I'm slightly above 55. I think there's an 80/20 rule.
So there are younger people that live here. Now you can't have young kids here. Like a few…
If I wanted to have grandkids, the most they could stay is 30 days. And so 30 days at a time. -Would you want them any longer? -Well, yeah, exactly. -So this is a weekend.
Is it busy like this every day? -This is pretty standard.
I would say this is pretty standard. It depends on what's happening and so
everybody's traveling somewhere, right? We have a destination
but some people may be going to lunch. They may be going to shop.
-Okay. A lot of times you look
and you see the golf clubs. So they're probably playing golf. There's, I don't know,
around 60 golf courses here. -[surprised] 60? Six zero? -Six zero, and again, 57 square miles. -57 square miles.
-Yes. -That's bigger than San Francisco. -And it actually touches three counties. I think that's a gator. [giggles] -A gator? You see a gator?
-Yeah, you can see a gator right there. -No way.
-Let me pull over. [both laughing] -You see it over there?
-That's the first gator I've seen. -Oh, what? -All right, guys, we got a gator up there
hanging out near the golf car path.
Golf car.
-Yes, golf car path. Yes. -And a home. And so do those gators
ever go up near the homes? -Some people do have a gator,
like on the front porch on occasion but it's really rare. They usually just stay
right there in the sun. Don't walk your little dog near the ponds
because that's asking for trouble, but they usually leave you alone. -Gators love pocket dogs?
-They do. [laughs] -I've seen the videos. HEATHER: So we're coming into Brownwood,
it's one of the town squares.
I would say it's probably
one of the popular ones around here because it's the closest one
to the southern part of The Villages. There's one really far north
called Spanish Springs and then there's one, Lake Sumter,
which I'll take you to, but this one's Brownwood. They'll have a theme. I'm gonna show you
this gas station up here, it's super cute. -Okay. -It's just for golf carts.
See "The Villages Filling Station", where it says golf car? -That's great. PETER: Darryl, how much does it cost
to fill up a golf car? PETER: So this is only for golf carts?
HEATHER: Yes, only golf carts. -No cars can come in here?
-No. -It is Disneyland.
-[laughs] Yeah. You see the facades of the building?
-Right. -They have sort of like a barber shop… -So how old are these buildings here?
-They're new. This is maybe… You know… I would guess 10 years maybe,
I don't know for certain. -Okay. -Maybe 5 to 10 years old. -They put some craft into this I gotta say.
-Absolutely.
HEATHER: We have our own
EMS, EMTs, The Villages but we use
local law enforcement. And the law enforcement
that we do have is great. We've used the Sheriff's department. We have very low crime here
but if you ever have to call anybody, the Sheriff's department,
they're very responsive. HEATHER: So this is one of
the larger rec centers. Eisenhower is well-known for The Villages particularly because we have
a lot of veterans here.
-Yeah.
-This really honors the military service… …of a lot of Villagers. It's really beautiful.
I love to take people in to see. PETER: Oh, wow. HEATHER: It's just incredibly decorated.
Really honors the vets. So if you go down the sides here you see
all the memorabilia people have donated. When they build a rec center
they call for donations and.. -Okay. For example, they just did
a first responder rec center and so they called for donations. Fire and police. But this is all military. -So are they doing this
to bring in veterans? They want them to move here
or it's just because… -No, it's just each of
the rec centers has a theme. -Okay. -And so there are
all different kinds of themes. There's one… There's a rec center
that honors the state parks.
-Okay.
-Or the national parks. There's one that has a lake theme,
and everything is canoes, and cabin-looking,
and they just all have different themes. But this particular one
is really nice I think. -Yeah, it's beautiful. PETER: Hello, sir.
HEATHER: How you doing? HEATHER: Hi.
MAN: Hi. HEATHER: Usually you can see
what's happening and like here it's yoga. So they had yoga this morning. PETER: So all of these community centers,
there are different events going on. -Yes. -And so people can live a very active life.
-Oh, very active.
-Endless amounts of things to do? -Endless, endless.
I saw today there's fabric fun. I don't even know what kind of
craft that is but anything from cards, to crafting, to I think glass
or stained glass sort of things. People play table tennis.
-Okay. MAN: Oh no, I'm in there.
HEATHER: [laughs] That's okay. So this one is housing
a Kentucky connection. So this is just a gathering
of all people that are from Kentucky. So if you want to find people
that have something in common with you like, there's different, you know,
clubs like that. So Kentucky people get together
and talk about their home state. PETER: Hello.
WOMAN: Hi. HEATHER: Hi.
PETER: Kentucky only, right? WOMAN: Yeah, it's the Kentucky club.
We're getting ready for it. -Okay.
-Kentucky Derby party. HEATHER: Oh, a Kentucky Derby party. WOMAN: Yes, it's derby day. HEATHER: Oh, it is?
PETER: Derby day. HEATHER: So is everybody wearing a hat
and they're all decked out? WOMAN: Mine's in there.
Yeah, a lot of people are very decked out.
PETER: I drove through Kentucky once,
does that count? [all laughing] It was a nice drive. All right.
WOMAN: Kentucky people are friendly. HEATHER: I'm from Indiana, it's close.
MAN: It's close. HEATHER: Close enough, right?
We can peek in? PETER: And you're going casual
and all business up top. I like your style.
-That's right, see that there. [all laughing] HEATHER: Oh, this looks great.
PETER: Oh, wow. HEATHER: They said we could peek. PETER: Barb, what did we miss out on?
What did we miss out on here? -We're gonna have the derby.
PETER: "We're just getting going."
is what you're saying? HEATHER: That's exciting, I like it. PETER: What is this here?
BARB: That's where the horses run. PETER: What do you mean by that?
You have, like, little horses? MAN: No, we have big horses. [all laughing] PETER: I'm confused. It's a Kentucky thing? -Like here's the horse. PETER: You got a horse here? HEATHER: Oh, wow. PETER: So what are you gonna do?
You're gonna go to a square here? -You get assigned to a number
and then they roll the dice, right? Then your number comes up,
you move him. [laughs] HEATHER: And then you move it, right?
WOMAN: That's right. PETER: Hello, sir. Good afternoon. You know, I love the Southern accent. -Oh yeah, I know.
-That guy had it.
-Yeah, it's just like a classy… -Growing up in the Northeast
they sort of looked down on it. -Oh right, it's like uneducated or…
-Right, and now I really… I love it. I mean it sounds so cool.
-Yeah, it's classy. Yeah. Hello. HEATHER: So the funny thing is…
Okay, this looks really amazing. Imagine this everywhere.
-Yeah. Like, they're doing things
all over the place, all the time. Pardon me.
PETER: Hello, sir. MAN: How are you?
PETER: Good luck tonight. MAN: Thank you. WOMAN: It's 10 a person. PETER: Now we're talking money here, huh? HEATHER: Yeah, how much? PETER: What's the name of your horse?
WOMAN: Um, Belinda… Oh my God.
WOMAN 2: You named it.
WOMAN: No, uh, Kentucky Derby Bourbon.
Belinda Bourbon. HEATHER: Oh, she's got bourbon.
PETER: Belinda Bourbon? -Yeah, that's her name.
We gotta fix it. [all laughing] HEATHER: This gator's big.
He's pretty famous. Everyone likes to take his picture. PETER: So that gator just
comes up here onto shore and hangs out? HEATHER: Yep, he stays here generally. -How far will a gator
run away from the water? -You know, I don't know.
I don't want to find out.
[giggles] -You just have to run faster, right?
-Exactly. -All right, while The Villages feels
very pleasant, nice and calm… There are threats. That's a serious animal
you do not want to mess with. And then a nice game of golf
in the background. PETER: What do you think these homes cost? HEATHER: Okay, those are
probably 600, 700. -So do people stick to their villages? -Not necessarily,
there are a lot of communities. We're really big on driveway parties. They have food trucks coming,
they have a live band. Like yeah, they go all out. -So it's not a lonely place out here?
-Oh no. Oh no. We have so many friends all over and um… -And you've only been here three years?
-Yeah. We're gonna go under a tunnel now
because we're going under a main road. There are tunnels all over The Villages to get you from one side
to the other safely.
PETER: Okay, there's a similar theme here
from the last place we were at, yeah? -Right, right, these are both
the larger rec centers but you'll notice an entirely different
theme when you go inside. -So do you pay a massive HOA fee
to be part of this? -No, it's…
Well, some would argue it's massive. It's less than $300 a month. And I get unlimited golf
and all these activities.
-Are you serious?
-Yeah. -That pays for all of this infrastructure?
-Yes. [Peter perplexed] Huh.
-Yeah. -That's way cheaper
than I thought it would be. -Yes. HEATHER: Now there may be some things,
like we just saw the derby party, and they, you know,
maybe pay $10 for your food or something. -Okay. -But generally all these activities
are all baked in. -Okay, this sounds serious. [Heather giggles] They're playing… [chattering and dice clacking] Bunko. -What's Bunko? -It's supposed to be, I think, a dice game. I don't know how to play it actually
but it's a real social game, and so you can…
-There's a lot of focus here. -Yeah, there is a lot of focus. There's probably a big prize. [dice clacking] HEATHER: See it's an entirely different
sort of vibe in here.
-So each one of these
community centers has a different feel? -Yes, and The Villages
really goes all out to decorate. I mean you can tell. -Okay, so let me understand
the business model because I don't. -Right. -So the developers,
whomever started this bought a ton of land, and they made a lot on each plot sold. -And they keep buying, right? So it started in the '80s.
It's family-owned. -This family, the Morse family started it. I should say I'm not
a representative of The Villages. -Okay, sure.
-So I'm telling you what I know. But they started in the '80s
and it started with mobile homes, and so the northern part is all… Well not all because some of
the mobile homes have been pulled off and regular homes have been built. Now the new homes
like where our home is, we have to pay, I don't know what it's called
but we do pay a fee. It's a bond. That's what they call it
when you buy your house. -Okay.
-So our house had roughly a $25,000 bond. You pay it over the life of your mortgage
or if you pay cash then you pay it over X number of years.
So it's, you know… -So there is something extra in there?
-Something extra. -Okay.
-Now a lot of these homes up here… …have already paid that off.
-Okay. -So if you buy a home that's preexisting,
you're not paying that. -Sure. Oh…
-You just pay the $200-something a month. We have an app and so if you're interested
in trying to find what's happening you just go to calendar and then, okay, so I wanna know today. What's happening today? So there's just
activities constantly, you know? Swimming starting at 7:00 AM. But I want to, say, what… I want to know at Brownwood
Paddock Square, what's happening today. There was a farmer's market at 9:00.
-Okay. -And tonight,
Rocky and the Rollers are performing. So everything's on the app. You can find out where
you can play pickle ball… where you can do crafts, anything.
-Okay. Just so you guys know, this is not
a promo video for The Villages. Nobody paid me.
-[Heather laughing] No. -You don't work for The Villages.
-I'm not an official spokesperson, no. -You're just fired up on living here.
-You bet.
-And you reached out and said,
"Peter, I want to show you The Villages." Because it gets a lot of bad press, right?
-It gets a ton of bad press. A lot of people think we're all, like,
hardcore conservatives, or Trumpers… …and we're not either.
-Okay. -I mean there's there's
a variety of people that live here. All walks of life.
-Okay. I can tell you what I feel so far. I feel a very happy environment
energetically, people seem very happy.
-Yes.
-And to see old people like that… …together, smiling, doing something,
using their minds with the dice game… -Right. -I can't see what's wrong with that.
-Right. -Like what's better that or living
in a home alone like my grandmother? -Exactly.
-She was alone in an apartment. A dark apartment.
-Right, yeah. -Without anyone around, you know?
-Right, exactly. I think COVID really opened our eyes
to being able to live some place like this and still work or even buy into
a community like this for the future. -You're not retired, Darryl?
-Nope. DARRYL: We're that close.
PETER: That close, okay. -Maybe by the time the filming ends.
-By the time this video is posted. DARRYL: But like Heather said,
there's 140,000 people here, and probably 100,000 of them
feel like they're on vacation. Living here?
-Yeah. Everybody's just having
a great time, everybody's friendly. -Is it because you're sort of
all in it together in a way? Like everyone's sort of
bought into this life and you're here for each other
maybe in a way? HEATHER: Right. DARRYL: One thing I did, I was
looking up something on the forum, they have a Villages forum where you can
go ask questions about different things, and there's things like
on the Facebook where we live, different communities
where they have Facebook groups, and on that you'll find
people just post something, "I need a ride to the hairdresser."
or something.
And people will just come, and pick you up,
and take you wherever you need to go. They're just like
the friendliest people here. -So is it almost like the US
you would think of, like in the '50s? Where the neighborhoods
were super tight and everyone would help? I mean that's just my thought
of what it would be like… -No, I think it's true.
I think it's true. You know, when we bought our house, just like maybe would have happened
years ago, people brought us cookies, and came and greeted us,
and invited us over. I don't have that where I lived before. I mean it is sort of like
a step back in time. All right, guys, the camera is
definitely not covering the distances that we're traveling.
'Cause I have it off a lot of times
but we are, I don't know, an hour… Hour and constant cruising
from where we started and so it's just community center,
after pool, after golf course. And I guess we're going
to a town right now. The town we're going to has a full-on bank,
and Starbucks, and everything? -Oh yes, absolutely.
-In The Villages? -In The Villages.
-Okay. -Oh, you don't really want for much,
it's all here. It's all contained within the villages. -Yeah, I was just saying
we've probably been on that golf path for an hour, hour and 20 minutes.
-Probably, yeah. -Consistently,
and we've seen a fraction of it. -A fraction of The Villages. So we're gonna come up on a town,
and there are a few towns. We call Town Square,
the one we're going to next is probably in the northern part. What I call the northern part
of The Villages. More of… Not the original
but pretty much one of the original. But then there's so many more
down south and they're changing the style.
Like the one down south that they
just built has a food court, you know? Like, they didn't have
a food court in the '80s… …when they built here, right?
-Yeah, yeah. Let's do a test here, we have to go
through our separate doors. -[giggling] That's right. We gonna race? -And we'll see… We could race,
but we'll see if the mics work. I'm gonna keep talking to you.
-Oh. My question is this before you go…
-Okay -Does it change, the older places,
older people, and the newer places, newer? -A little bit.
A little bit. Not necessarily, but yeah.
-Keep talking, Heather. -Ready? Here we go.
-Okay. -All right, we'll see
how good these mics work. [Heather's voice echoing]
The more north you go in the older communities
you're gonna find older individuals, but as a younger person
I could buy a pre-owned home. -Can you hear me? [giggles] I can buy a pre-owned home
up in the older areas if I want. So as a 57 year old,
I looked at pre-owned homes up here. -Okay. -Just because I like
some of the activities in this area. So I might have chosen to live up here
even though probably stereotypically it's a little bit older community.
-Now is there ever a tension
between the true OGs that have been here for a long time
and you newbies coming in? -Yes.
-And especially since you're a lot younger. -Yes, well…
-Some tension? -A little bit of tension. They want The Villages to stop expanding. -Okay.
-People say… "I thought The Villages
was going to stop building at this point." "I thought they were gonna stop
when they had 100,000 people." "I thought they were gonna stop
when they hit 44 but they keep building." and so some of the original folks
are, like, a little grumpy about that.
How big does it need to be, you know? Because we do share restaurants
and we share doctors. -It's the mentality like,
"I came here now no one else."? -Yeah.
-Which you see in all sorts of communities. That's a problem all over the country.
-Really, I think that's pretty common. But, you know, you're sharing. Like I said, everything's here
in the villages, your bank, your doctor, everything is right here.
So if you keep adding people
then you gotta share… -Your doctor's offices are in the villages.
-Oh, sure. -Hospitals?
-Yes, The villages has a hospital, yes. And it's associated with
the University of Florida. So it's a quality hospital. -Okay.
-Yeah. -So do you think there are people
that actually never leave here, ever? -Yes. -You see how
beautifully manicured everything is…
…and the flowers are gorgeous.
-Yeah. -Well those are annual flowers,
and so when they get a little tired, they'll come in and they take them all out,
and they plant all new flowers. So everything always looks perfect. If you see a branch, a palm leaf down,
it doesn't sit for long before it's picked up. -Where do all the workers live
that keep this place together? -That's really one of the…
That's kind of the rub, and that is why The Villages is building
their second school. In order to attract enough workers
to service all the residents they really have to have other amenities, and so there are neighborhoods
you can live in if you work in The Villages. So there are special… Like my niece lives
in a neighborhood that's for people associated with The Villages. She's in her 30s. -So there are, wait…
There are worker neighborhoods here? -Yes, in the surrounding… Outside of The Villages
but very close surrounding and they're actually building
a multi-generational community. So right now everything you've seen is
a 55 and older master plan community. There's a charter school
up here near where we are and it's very popular,
and you can only attend there…
My understanding,
and again, I'm not official word on this, but my understanding is
you have to work in The Villages or have a certain service level of a job. Like maybe you're a cop
and you support The Villages. Then your kids can go there. It's very sought after. And so now they're building a second one
in the southern part of The Villages. It's called Middleton.
It's beautiful. But in addition to the school they're
finally building multi-generational. So family-style homes. And that will be interesting. So it won't just be 55 and older. -Do you ever see any golf cart…
Sorry, golf car crashes? -Yes, my understanding is there was just… There were two in the same day
maybe like a week or two ago. So it doesn't happen very often. We're not wearing them but we have
seat belts if we wanted to wear them.
So at top speed I'm going
21 miles per hour right now. That's about normal. -I bet you get a lot of
drunk drivers out here. -You do. One of the ponds, the retention ponds,
or little lakes that we passed today, after a night at the town square,
I'm told when the bars closed down, somebody was driving home
in a golf cart, and missed their turn, and ended up in the pond. And then she couldn't really tell… She called 911
but she didn't know where she was. She missed the stop of a golf cart path. She was in the water
but she couldn't tell them where she was. [both chuckling] So it happens.
-Villages life… -Oh yeah, oh yeah. HEATHER: A lot of this is newer.
PETER: It's like a Hollywood movie set. -It feels like a little bit.
-It really it. It really is. But you'll find restaurants, gift shops,
furniture stores. -Can someone from
outside of The Villages come here? -Yes.
There's some live music going on. PETER: Is that where
all the swingers hang out? [Heather giggles] -No swingers, there's no swingers. Well there might be but in my experience…
-You think these guys are swingers? -Thank you…
[both laughing] HEATHER: I don't think so. [laughs] So we have, you know,
obviously AT&T, we've got Starbucks. -Oh, wow.
-We have all of the normal things here. -This is a bit like The Truman Show,
you ever see that? -Yes, I have heard it
described that way before. -So you don't have
a lot of the problems cities have? No homelessness obviously, right?
-Definitely not. Definitely not. -Crime?
-No, no crime. I mean I'm sure…
-Maybe some domestic stuff happening. -Perhaps, and, you know,
maybe some drinking and driving, but I have heard people
accidentally take a golf cart because the keys sometimes are universal. So people will take home
the wrong golf cart. -Sure. -And so then it gets reported as stolen. But we're gonna go
to this little lake over here. There's a parking style. So if you're in a golf cart
you do double park in a single car spot. So two cars if you go in like this. -Wait, I feel like you got
a bit too much space there. No? -It's a little bit.
Little bit but it's okay.
-You gonna get called out?
-I might. [giggles] It's very possible. Villages also has their own radio station
which is right… It's a house right there.
Of course… PETER: "FM 102.7"?
HEATHER: They play oldies. You can hear it playing out here right now. -Oh, the speakers?
-It's playing, the speakers everywhere. ♪ soft rock playing on speakers ♪ HEATHER: So there's some gorgeous
high end golf course homes over there. -Okay, out there?
-Yeah. Really beautiful homes. PETER: There he is.
[Heather giggles] PETER: Looking highly stressed-out. [both laughing] -Oh yeah, there's
an ice cream shop right here. -How are the costs with, say,
ice cream shops or the restaurants? -It's pretty normal, you know,
you'll hear people complain. We have different grocery stores,
Publix, Winn-Dixie, the usuals. Sometimes people complain
the groceries are high but I think it's just relative, I mean…
♪ Electric Slide playing on PA ♪ PETER: Oh, there the ladies are.
[Heather giggles] He's hitting on 'em. This guy might have the moves.
DARRYL: He's got it. PETER: You guys aren't retired are you?
MAN: No, still gotta work. We live in The Villages but… -I think you're the one people
I've found younger than me. [all laughing] -Yep, there ya go, there ya go. -You never know, we might just look young.
-That's true, that's true. [all laughing] MAN: I saw something on Facebook
today about the loofas and all that. Most people who live here,
we just laughing because, man,
I don't know about all of that. I suppose people do whatever they do,
but for us, everybody's so nice, man.
The neighbors here, my neighbors are cool. -So I came in today thinking
it was only a retirement community. -Oh man, I got people on my block,
we live in Richmond. Which is the southern end
of The Villages, right? I got 40-year-olds on my block,
50-year-olds on my block, and then you got
70-somethings on the block. So it's a good mix of people. I've got neighbors
that are 75, 80 years old. Right?
-Right. -And last night we had them over
to our house with a couple other couples that are older than us, you know, all that,
and they were texting me this morning, "We had a blast."
We're drinking wine, we're having snacks. You know, all that,
sitting out on the back Lanai. Four hours, just having a blast. So definitely a sense of community. You cannot be bored. My 23-year-old son, he's convinced
that he needs to move here, right? -[Peter laughing] Really? -He's 23 and he's like,
"Man, I need to move there, dad." He absolutely loves it.
So, nah… What's not to love?
People are smiling all the time. If you're not happy here,
you can't be happy anywhere. It's not the most
diverse place in the world in terms of racial ethnic diversity, but when I came in here
on a lifestyle visit and I started talking to
some of the minorities that were here they all said the same thing, "Where they been
hiding this place?" right? And so nobody said a bad word about it. And so, you know, we just fit in. If you're nice, I don't care
what your racial ethnicity is. That doesn't matter to me
as long as you're just good people, you're smiling and enjoying the life. People talk about red, blue, whatever. It's whatever, you know what I mean?
We still gotta live life no matter what. So I don't care… -Does it matter when you're
out here like this? Look at these ladies. -Yeah, like…
-All that stuff seems stupid at this point. -All that stuff don't matter. I'm always having my camera out videoing just because I love to see
people having a good time.
So I guess it allows you
to be free in that sense. To be old and feel okay to get up
in the middle of the day, and start dancing? -And there are people
that live for that, you know? -Oh, I bet.
-They live for it. -Imagine if you can't really drive anymore
but you can handle a golf cart. -Right. Sorry, golf car.
-Golf car. -And so that just opens up your life.
-Oh, yeah. -Come down here
with your friends for a restaurant. -So there will be a band here
in just a couple hours. People… You can see some people
already have their seats. It's probably their favorite band. Some people bring lawn chairs
but this will be a dance floor here. -It's gonna be packed?
-Oh, it'll be packed.
-And so with the bands, it's all free?
-It's all free. And so one of the things that people… You know, you're reminded
that people can come in from the outside. They're not all Villagers…
-Okay. -…that will come here for the band
because "Why not?". It's a free band and you can go out.
-Sure. ♪ Kid Rock ♪ PETER: I wouldn't have thought
at The Villages they'd be playing Kid Rock on the radio.
[Heather giggles] -You know, there's a lot 50-somethings,
40-somethings still down here, yeah. -I can imagine the 80 year olds
just having trouble with that. No? -Um… They don't seem to.
I think that everybody that's down here is young at heart. -Oh, there we go.
I like it. So what is this, "McLin Burnsed"? -So interestingly enough
you have a lot of retirees.
So you have a lot of financial planners
and those sort of things. -Okay. -Law firm?
-Yeah, attorneys, insurance. So this bank down here
is The Villages Bank. -The Villages Bank? -So my understanding is it's owned
by the family that runs The Villages, the Morse family. -Okay.
-And so it's a little bit different. -We worked with them in
purchasing a house and it was really smooth because, again,
they're part of the community. Within The Villages you can find
a B of A, and Chase Bank, but this is actually a Villages-owned bank. -So Citizens is The Villages bank?
-Yes, Citizens is The Villages bank. So if you buy a home here… ♪ "Rockstar" by Nickelback ♪ [Peter laughing] Okay, if I hear Slipknot, then I know
something's going wrong in the Matrix. -Okay, so I was saying,
some of these are original buildings. Yeah. -This is an original building?
-Yeah. So there's, like, a preservation society. Some of the buildings around here
are original. -So do they have better interest rates?
What's their deal? -Well I think their
customer service is better and I found them to be
a little easier to work with.
Yeah. -Buying a house here,
you have to get two realtors? -It's recommended, yeah,
that you get two realtors. So you get an MLS realtor
because some houses are in the MLS. The typical systems, Realtor.com
-Sure. -But you need a Villages realtor too
because some houses are just listed through the villages. So they're realtors
that are employees of The Villages and they have certain listings. So you can't see…
They can't show each other's houses. -Okay, that's a little clunky.
-It is. -So as a buyer…
-Right. -…you're dealing with two realtors.
-Yes. -If you want to get the full view
of what's going on here. -If you're buying a pre-owned home. If you're buying a brand new home
and a lot people are. There's tons of construction right now. We had some flooring installed and our… The flooring guy told us
that he just signed a contract to floor 5,000 more houses
that The Villages is building.
So they're building like crazy. Those new homes, you can only buy
through a Villages realtor. PETER: Do you think after year 10
you'll step up to something like this or… The Bel Air?
-I would love something like this. Oh, I think that's got a back seat too. Oh, that's great. ♪ disco ♪ -[woman on PA speaker]
Taking out the disco, let's go. PETER: So now you feel like
you're in a suburban town as far as businesses, right? Barnes and Noble.
HEATHER: Oh yeah, everything you need. Right, Barnes and Noble. -Like, a big one too.
-Right. We have Walmart in The Villages. -[Peter intrigued] Huh.
-Yeah.
PETER: And these carts out there. -So this is a golf cart store. So you can buy…
-Did we pass this earlier? -This is a different one.
-It's a different one? Wow. This is the third one we've passed.
-Oh, yeah. Oh yeah, it's a big business. You can custom order your golf cart.
A lot of people do that. -How much does a nice golf cart cost? -Um, if you were to get a decent new one,
brand new one, probably $12,000.
Some of the ones you see
are more tricked-out are 35. -Like that Bel Air one we just saw?
-Oh yeah, that was probably 25, $30,000. Yeah. ♪ mellow jazz ♪ HEATHER: So this is back
where we started with the gas station. But we only turned and went this way. So you haven't seen any of this up here.
-Okay. Is this the town we're going to?
-This is the town. -Okay.
-This is just like the one we came from… …only again, different theme. That was all, like, Key West theme,
this is all Western. PETER: So Heather, bit of your back story, you just took a job in Daytona Beach… …in education.
-Right. -Yes, in higher education. -What university in Daytona Beach. -Embry Riddle Aeronautical University.
-Oh, very cool. -Yeah, it's a really highly ranked
world famous university. -Yeah? [live band playing in the distance] -This is every weekend night or what?
-Every night.
-Every night?
-365. PETER: So in a way it's come across
as a puff piece today. It's been very positive.
-Right. -What are the drawbacks?
There have gotta be some drawbacks… …or you haven’t felt them yet?
-Hmm. Yeah, no, I'm pretty content here. I… You know… We need to meet some more people
as a part-timer. We've met our neighbors but we haven't
been able to get involved with a lot of clubs and things yet. So I'm looking forward to that. ♪ live band playing oldies ♪ Okay, now we either need to find a seat
or we have to go to the dance floor. PETER: Dance floor. ♪ band playing "I Fought the Law" ♪ PETER: She's here every night, and she,
like, usually dances towards the crowd.
Like, kinda puts a show on. PETER: Transgender, yeah?
-Yeah. [song ends and applause] ♪ "Worst That Could Happen"
by Brooklyn Bridge ♪ WOMAN: Is it what you thought
it was going to be? -No, I thought it was pure retirement. There's an awesome, like, positive,
vibrant energy here that I didn't expect. Yeah, because
the first time I saw it I thought, "This is too Disneylandish."
-Yeah. -But then, like you said,
once you are here and you get the feeling of, "We're here to enjoy
and not care what everybody thinks." -Yeah. -I hear criticism.
People say, "You guys are hedonistic." It's most people here have worked
their entire life and it's just that you're now relaxing. That's all it is.
You're just relaxing and enjoying life. Tons of volunteer work goes on around here.
A ton of it. People are still giving back
but you're just trying to relax. My job was very 24/7
and so to not have to… Although it is difficult to slow that down,
once you do, you find out, "Oh, life is not so bad." WOMAN: Have you been to Indiana?
HEATHER: Oh yes, he's been to Indiana. -Just checking, I'm from Indiana too.
-Of course. MAN: That's not what
your name tag says. -Well I was born in Louisville. PETER: You were trying to get in
with the Kentucky club earlier. -No.
-No? -Huh-uh. -But you're from Indiana?
-I'm from Southern Indiana. Born in Louisville, Southern Indiana
is right across the bridge. Back, forth, back, forth,
back, forth my whole life. [inaudible] Especially today when they're singing
"My Own Kentucky Home". And I'm down here
listening to Rocky and the Rollers. [Heather laughing] PETER: Are we gonna get you
on the dance floor? -Only if I get fired. [Heather giggling] ♪ band playing oldies ♪ [music slows down] [music fades] -All right, guys.
Few final thoughts here from The Villages. When I told some friends
I'd be coming here last week one of them said, "Isn't that just
a swinger's cult out there?". Another, I won't name who… Uh… Laughed and looked down
upon the place as if, "Ugh, those people down there." So what I'd like to leave you with
in this video is we all get used to making labels on things. Um… Say, Villages is this or… Whatever is that. And then onto the next bit of information. But really there is usually
a lot more to it than we think. So take any form of media. My form of media here for what it is. I met one person, a few people today
and that's the story I ran into.
Are there problems here? I'm sure. Is there all sorts of things going on? Well, you have 140,000 people. Of course. Humans are messy. But take this story today as… Well, maybe things aren't
always what they seem. This could be your nightmare
living in an area like this, or your dream. We're all different. But understanding
where people come from is… Well, in my opinion, number one. That was a lot of fun today. I enjoyed it and it definitely
opened my eyes up a bit. 'Cause I didn't think it would be… Well, this positive,
this great of an energy. A happy vibe out here, and I think it's
ticking some boxes for people. Such as security, community,
entertainment, happiness, and I can definitely see the draw to here. All right, guys, thanks for coming along. Until the next one. ♪ upbeat jazz ♪.
Can I Use My 401k To Buy Gold?
Harvey 0 Comments Retire Wealthy & Wise Silver IRA
Can I use my 401k to buy gold? With a standard 401k you can only hold gold
in the form of ETFs or mutual funds. This is considered "Paper gold" If you want
to invest directly in gold and silver, Precious metals, you need to form a self-directed IRA. In order to receive the tax benefits and no
penalties for moving these funds you need to do it with the proper company, and you
do not actually take possession of the Gold. The gold is stored in government approved
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directly. Now that you know if you can use your 401k
to buy gold, call: 1-844-612-7162 Order your Free Gold 401k Rollover Kit: http://FreeGoldIRARolloverKit.com
Silver and other precious metals IRA
Read More
Retirement Speech: Insanely Easy 3 Step Structure
Harvey 0 Comments Planning your Retirement Retire Wealthy & Wise Retiree Tips and Tricks
whether we have to prepare for it or if you have to improvise there's a very simple framework that we can follow when it comes to delivering a retirement speech let's get into it hey my name is radeep and i love learning about effective communications and sharing those learnings with you so that you can level up your communications game as well okay now the framework we're going to talk about very very simple the past present and future that's it we start by talking about when we first met them we felt at that time we then move on to talking about how that journey has been so far and what we feel about them now and then we move on to saying what we wish for them in the future that's it an example would flow something like this i remember the first project i worked with you on when you first joined to be honest we didn't get along very much in those early days but as we worked more closely i got to know you more not just as a colleague but as a friend and from not wanting to work with you from that first project to looking forward to having you on every project the only thing i'm going to miss more than your work ethic is your wacky sense of humor i remember you telling me how you always wanted to travel every country in the world now i hope you get to achieve that and take another great adventure off from your bucket list that's it whether we have to prepare or improvise this framework can work in almost any situation and if you want to be a little more interesting we can make this format a little unique for example we can get a few colleagues together and create a fun skit for that person or we can create some sort of video to showcase the memories or the journey that that person has had and that's about it a very quick and short way to help you give a damn speech and if you want an in-depth explanation along with a much longer sample speech we've written an entire article on this which is linked below and go check it out on franticallyspeaking.com and if you're somebody who's very nervous about speaking in front of people and want some advice on calming those knows you can check out this video right here
What Do You Do With Yourself After Retirement? – Dr. Devi Shetty with Sadhguru
Harvey 0 Comments Planning your Retirement Retire Wealthy & Wise Retiree Tips and Tricks
Devi Shetty: Sadhguru, I am constantly torn between my senior colleagues, who are extremely skilled surgeons. Sadhguru, the… on the heart there are some procedures, which are done by very few people on this planet. I’ll give an example – I do an operation called pulmonary endarterectomy that’s the blood clots from the leg goes to the lung arteries and it clogs up all the arteries. So twenty… twenty-five years ago there was no cure for this. And once you are diagnosed, you are destined to die within a year. Today people who are on home oxygen for two years, three years you do the operation they can go back to skydiving or they can go to scuba diving. That’s the transformative effect but there are only fifty surgeons less than fifty surgeons in this world who can operate. And like this we have some of my colleagues who are extremely gifted surgeons. They are in their fifties now. And some of them are constantly talking about retirement. Especially one surgeon he is a extremely gifted surgeon who can fix any damaged valve.
He is single, he has no other commitments every other day he talks about going to Banaras or somewhere and retire and I keep telling him that God didn’t create him to retire and meditate. He has to be fixing all these problems So he gives me extension every six months Guruji. So at the end of six months the usual rigmarole starts, he talks about retirement and everybody is depressed in the hospital. So how do you deal with this kind of people? Sadhguru: You must you must give him a one year sabbatical with me Yes, because the need or the idea of retirement enters anybody’s mind because of the monotony of what they’re doing, whatever it may be.
Somebody else may think it's a great thing but in your experience somewhere it's becoming monotonous or stagnant. Stagnation is one thing that human intelligence and human system cannot take. And most of the ailments are because of stagnation stagnation of life. They may be… they may be getting their you know once in three years promotion. They may be making little more money. All these things may be happening but somewhere experientially there’s a stagnation, which could be a major cause for many of the complex ailments that people manufacture within their systems.
The more complex they get you try to create more talented surgeons. I am saying we are manufacturing the problems, we are trying to manufacture a solution. I think as we offer solutions people who have adl… already gotten into problems, they need solutions. But it's very important that we teach people how not to create these problems, so that instead of fifty, you have to produce five thousand expert surgeons to attend to all these people who are on self-help to illness. So I would say a surgeon who is who has a certain competence and who has worked through his life, if he wants to explore something of his own nature, that will be the greatest thing to do because he is not a man without commitment nor competence. When competence and commitment is there, you should not run him through the rig ram role (rigmarole?) and destroy that possibility. It’s important that he explores something of his own nature, which will make him We don't know what he’ll come up with.
You cannot even estimate what he may come up with. I think a sabbatical is good. He may come up with something that you have not thought possible. Devi Shetty: I will… I will convey your message Sadhguru. I am sure he is watching this program.
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Singapore: Your Ideal Retirement Haven Unveiled! Here’s Why
Harvey 0 Comments Planning your Retirement Retire Wealthy & Wise Retiree Tips and Tricks
Why is Singapore one of the top choices for
retirement? Huh? Really? Isn't Singapore one of the most expensive cities in the world? Hello!
Sky high property prices and ridiculous car prices with COE shooting through the roof! So
why would Singapore be considered one of the top choices for retirement? As we Singaporeans
always say Sure boh? Well before I set some context to today's video, a short introduction.
I'm John,
one half of the Corporate Breakout Couple. In 2020, my wife Fran and I retired young in Singapore and
we love making retirement videos. Okay, let me set some context. First, I'm addressing Singaporeans and
Permanent Residents and because this group of people will have no issues staying in Singapore
for the long term. For foreigners without PR, I'd like to share with you some reasons in today's
videos why you want to make Singapore your Top Choice as a retirement destination.
And that
means of course getting a leg into Singapore first working here, getting your employment pass
and then getting your PR and then eventually getting your Singapore citizenship. Allow
me to share with you the beauties about my beloved Singapore. For one, we have world-class
infrastructures and amenities. For example the transport system. The public transport system is
amazing from the buses to the MRTs, they're so well connected and very nicely air conditioned and very
clean as well. Number two: Safety and Security. That is something that we should never ever take for
granted, even though Singapore has a low crime rate. Remember low crime doesn't mean no crime.
Number three: Singapore is a cosmopolitan city and diverse in culture. As a foreigner, you will
feel right at home here. Number four: Singapore is a clean and green city, one of the cleanest in
the world. Look what's going on behind me. People are cleaning up the beach voluntarily. Number
five: Racial harmony.
Singapore has many races and multiple religions and Singapore has
done a great job to keep everyone living harmoniously. I would like to talk about the cost
of living in Singapore. In today's times, the perception of Singapore Incorporated, that's how
we call it, is that it's a very expensive city to live in. That may be true from outside looking
in but for Singaporean and PR who's working and living here, it's important to have context with
respect to your earning capacity, your salary, with respect to your quality of life which is your
basic needs and your wants, and importantly with respect to your purchasing power in Sing dollars.
If you actually dive in into the numbers, you'll find that there's certain cost categories that's
pretty affordable such as your public transport and your Hawker food. If you are Singaporean or PR
earning $5,000 SGD every month and the cost of a unlimited bus and MRT ride card cost $128 SGD,
that's only 2.5% of your total salary. What about Hawker food? You can find meals going
for three to four SGD and that's a very small percentage of the salary.
What about cooking
at home? Cooking at home can be really economical as well and you can find everything in Fair
price and Cold Storage, whatever you need. As much as Singaporeans don't want to admit it, the cost of
basic needs is actually not as high, with respect to the average household income. So is it really
as expensive as what we are complaining about? Let me tell you something. What I really believe
is it's the lifestyle inflation that's causing all this talk and I'm talking about hipster cafes..
can you live without traveling every quarter, half yearly or every yearly? Can you live without your
restaurants, your Japanese, your Italian food? That is the lifestyle inflation that's causing all
this talk.
What about housing? It's true housing can be pretty expensive in Singapore, even
for public housing like HDBs. HDB prices are no longer starting at $100,000 to $200,000 SGD
but going for $400,000/ $500,000 SGD. However as a Singaporean, I know that much of your property
loan can be serviced by CPF, which you cannot take out anyway and the government gives a lot of
subsidies for first timers and not forgetting, most importantly the prices of property in
Singapore generally goes up so you're holding an item of value.
Therefore, your top three expenses
your transport your groceries and food and your housing which is mostly serviced by your CPF, they
are actually pretty low percentage of your total income. In today's video, I actually like to cover
some technical aspects about Singapore, namely the financial stability and strength and the
geographical location and I'm doing comparisons because I've been traveling around together with
my wife, going around the different places and looking at different retirement destinations
and I will still name Singapore as one of the top choices.
Singapore is a Global Financial Hub,
growing from strength to strength. Our pro business environment, our regulatory system which is very
effective, our infrastructure that supports all that and attraction of top talents substantiates
that. For that reason, we have attracted lots of high net worth individuals into Singapore.
For example Ray Dalio, founder of Bridgewater Associates, one of the largest hedge funds and
we have Google co-founder Sergey Brin, they set up Family Offices here during and after
the pandemic. And we also have high net worth individuals who have converted to Singaporeans
like Eduardo from Facebook, you have Li Xiting, you have Forrest Li, who are from China.
We have lots and lots more bringing more money into Singapore. It's no wonder when the Singapore
Government released their Securities and Bonds, the demand is so strong from your MAS bills, your T
Bills, your Singapore Savings Bond and lots more. And they are all solid AAA ratings. All that is
pointing to Singapore being a safe haven for your money. One of the important aspects of this video
that I would like to cover is the Sing dollar currency strength and the purchasing power.
This is
one of the important things for you to recognize as a retiree in Singapore, holding Sing dollars. You
know that your dollar will work really hard for you because of the strength of purchasing power
that you can buy whether it's for imported goods or traveling around, so this really supports your
retirement lifestyle and your means. I'd like to share with you some charts on the foreign exchange
between Sing dollars and other currencies like your US dollar, Japanese Yen, Aussie Dollars, your
Pounds and how it has performed, to share with you why our Sing dollars has increased in purchasing power
over the years. Let's look at Sing dollars versus Malaysian Ringgit which I'm pretty sure Singaporeans
and Malaysians are familiar with. This is the last 20 years chart starting from 2003 which the number
the Sing Dollars to Ringgit, it was at 2.20.
Today, it has hit a high of 3.50, one of the highest. So you
can imagine the appreciation that that Sing Dollars have strengthened against Ringgit just by 20
years. For those of you who are old enough, you'll know that Sing to Ringgit was actually at par which
is one to one in 1980. Here's the Sing Dollars against Aussie dollars, one of the major currencies
for the last 20 years. The earlier 10 years from 2003 to 2013, you can see that for Aussie Dollars
it's stronger than Sing Dollars around 0.8 on average with the exception of Lehman Brothers, the
Great Financial crisis period in 2008/ 2009 after which you can see that from 2013 onwards, there is
a steady increase. Steady increase of Sing Dollars appreciation against Aussie Dollars to around 1.1, almost 1.15 today. How about the performance of Sing Dollars against the other major currencies?
So for the last 20 years, this is the chart for Singapore Dollars against British Pounds.
In 2004/
2003, it was around 0.31, 0.32 and has gone up to over 0.6 today, almost double. And what about Sing
Dollars to Euros? That was around in 2005, around 0.5 now it's around 0.7 against Euros. What about
another major currency Yen. In Japanese Yen, in 2003 was around $1 SGD to 62 Yen. Now is around $1 SGD to 108 Yen, 109 Yen. So the appreciation for the last 20 years has been very drastic and major for the strengthening of
Sing Dollars. What about Sing Dollars against the Greenback, which is the US Dollars? So in 2003/2004,
it was around 0.6 and hitting a high of 0.8, 0.82 around 2011, and then normalizing to around 0.7
to hovering around the range of 0.73, 0.75 for now. So why has Sing Dollars not appreciated against
the Greenback as much? Well that's because USD is currently still the world's Reserve Currency.
Based on data from IMF as of Q2 2023, they are at 58.88% market share and what that means is
countries of the world are holding their foreign exchange reserves in USD. That's why the US Dollar
continues to be the dominant currency with Euros at a distance second at almost 20% and China RMB
is 2.45%, still miles away from USD.
And what that means is when the US Federal Reserve prints money,
the rest of the world follows along because USD sets the precedence. How does the dynamics of all
this currency impact you as an individual, in terms of inflation and the eroding of your currency?
Now let's look at this chart. This is the Federal Reserve debt from the Central Bank of USA and how
much debt they're holding till date. Starting from 1971 when the gold standard was taken off when
President Nixon decided that, you know, US Dollars are going to be backed by the Government, that's
when fiat currency was born and you can see debt has started to increase steadily, linear actually,
until around 2007/2008 and what happened was the Global Financial crisis, the housing crisis where
Ben Bernanke, the Federal Reserve chairman decided to go heavy into quantitative easing, printing of
money heavily, you can see from a debt of around 9, 10 trillion, this is trillion not millions, trillion
all the way for the last 10-15 years till around 32 trillion as of today. And what that means is
inflation has severely increased because of the debt incurred and that eroded your purchasing
power all around the world.
You know, Fran and I talk a lot about inflation and quantitative easing,
about money printing and all the different money dynamics in the world because we feel there's a
need to raise awareness in this world, in terms of financial literacy and that's one of the key
reasons why we started our Breakout Academy. Talking about finances, talking about breaking free,
breaking out the rat race and talking about early retirement because we really like to help people
to find their feet in this world so that they can then make powerful choices for themselves. Do
check out our Breakout Academy. I will advise you to not look at Singapore as a single retirement
destination. The world is our oyster. Traveling is the way how we can gain experience and really open
up our eyes.
What am I talking about? For example Singapore is an international hub, a regional hub
for businesses. For example your Finance industry. Do the same for your retirement as well. Use
Singapore as your hub so that you can go around the region especially Southeast Asia like Malaysia,
Indonesia, Thailand where you can stay for 6 months, one year, I mean depending on the visa requirements,
but use Singapore as a hub so that you can really explore all the different destinations in your
retirement life.
That brings me to my next point: Diversification. When you travel frequently and
you're exposed to different countries, different cultures and let's say their stock exchanges, their
housing market and all that, you will feel more inclined to want to invest in the different places.
Why? Because when you diverse across countries, you diverse across currencies and different assets
that actually hedges your risk and reduce your Risk of Ruin. So Singapore is actually in a perfect
sweet spot position to dance with the rest of the International Community and the Government
has done a fantastic job to do that, so that we stay very up to date, very up to tuned and our Sing
Dollars holds its currency strength and continue to strengthen actually, for us to improve and
increase our purchasing power to stay strong and relevant.
And as a retire in Singapore, your savings
and Investments are protected here in Singapore and you really get to stretch your dollars and
as the Singapore government is doing a great job to grow Singapore economically, strength to strength,
you will continue to enjoy a stronger purchasing power. Many people feel very stressed living in
Singapore because of the fast-paced environment. However, you think about it, that is true for
any metropolitan city that's very competitive. However if you are retiree or early retirees like
Fran and I who have Time Freedom, you have plenty of opportunities to explore different aspects of
Singapore in a very slow pace, comfortable, taking public transport everywhere with no rush
and there's no crowd like East Coast Park today, at the beach, there's hardly anybody and we
get to really go to different shopping malls, enjoy our time to explore Singapore.
What
about cost? Actually in Singapore, you have lots of choices. For example coffee. It can be as
cheap as $1+ Dollar in a local kopitiam or Hawker Center or you can go to Yakun and Toast
Box with slightly more expensive about $2 Sing Dollar or if you really want to splurge for
specialty coffee, it can go as high as SGD6-7, it's really your choice.
The point I'm driving at is, don't limit yourself. Create your llfe by your own design. Think out of the box. Singapore can be your home base for retirement but you also can have multiple regional bases for you to enjoy other countries as well. And perhaps for those of you with kids, you can retire early as
well. Think about this.
When you're in your 50s, your kids would have grown up. You can also enjoy
your life to the fullest and think out the box and you don't have to restrict yourself to only
one locality. Given a choice, would you consider Singapore as your top retirement destination?
I'll like to hear from you below in the comments section. Do comment the reasons why you would or
would not! We hope you have enjoyed a different point of view about Singapore today. Do hit
the Like button and Subscribe to our YouTube channel to join our YouTube family. See you in
the next video. If you interested in breaking out of the corporate 9-5 rat
race or embark on your early retirement journey, do check out our Breakout Academy,
where we'll support you further on your goals.
How I Saved $380K By Age 29 To Retire Early | Fired Up
Harvey 0 Comments Planning your Retirement Retire Wealthy & Wise Retiree Tips and Tricks
Tanner:
If I had to guess, I would say in terms of the
entire population, I'd probably be in the top 1% of most frugal people, maybe top 0.1%. Here's our couch. We got it free. We found this patio furniture for free on
Craigslist. I don't really like to buy anything. And in fact, it kind of makes me anxious. Every year or two, I'll get a new pair of running
shoes. Last time I bought running shoes is actually a
used pair. We've decided to invest in maybe cheaper hobbies
than most people. As eclectic as ever. How's it going, Mike? Board game Meetups led me
to meeting a few folks that I really enjoy spending time with, and so we get together
regularly to play board games. Chris:
Ooh, sick burn. Tanner:
Yeah. I don't really feel like we're missing out
on anything.
We have everything we need and we're generally
really happy. My name is Tanner Firl. I'm 29 years old. I live in Minneapolis, Minnesota. I plan to retire at the age of 35, and I've saved
$380,000 for retirement. Our house is in south Minneapolis, and I live
with my wife, my kid, and three cats. I've always been the primary income generator in
the household. My wife makes a little bit of money from hobbies
and she definitely saves us a lot of money by being the primary cook and homemaker. Lean Fire is a subset of people that would like
to reach FIRE, financial independence, earlier than most people in the movement. Generally, by saving money at a higher rate than
most people in the FIRE movement, I'd estimate we put about 50% or so of our
paycheck, maybe a little bit more towards savings. My personal brokerage account has $221,000 in it. My Roth IRA has $57,000. My health savings account has $26,000 in it and
my 401K has $75,000. A lot of people in the FIRE community have really
definitive FIRE numbers. For me, it's a little bit more flexible.
My lower bounds for retirement is $625,000
because I figure I need about $25,000 a year to live. So $25K sounds really low and it is for a lot of
people, depending on where you live and what your risk tolerance is, that might not be completely
possible. Your life changes over time and you never know
exactly what to expect. And so there's a fair amount of variability. Retiring, it's not about sitting on your couch
watching Netflix all day or going to the beach and getting a really nice suntan.
It's about getting to do whatever you want in
life. We were always very frugal. Growing up, I remember going to the bowling
alley. It was always a treat when we got a gum ball. Whenever we wanted something, we would have to
spend our own money to buy it or wait until our birthday or Christmas. That led to me and all my siblings having
newspaper routes where we deliver newspapers every day. We looked for other ways to make money as
well. My parents just gave me a loan directly. So when I graduated from college, I worked on
paying that off for a number of years. I believe the interest rate was 3%. It took me about five years to pay my parents
back.
I could have done it faster had I wanted to, but
I figured that the difference would be better spent investing in index funds. I always put in as much as I could in order to
get the employer match on my 401K. Parallel to that, I was also investing in index
funds at the time. A little bit after I graduated from college and
started making kind of real money in a professional job, I took FIRE to an extreme that
I, I think generally it's safe to say is unhealthy. I would get very, very anxious about
saving as much money as humanly possible.
I get really, really anxious about making more
money so that I could retire as early as possible. I put things off in my life that I really wanted
to do in order to try and and retire even earlier . I would spend all of my free time trying to make
money. I had these ideas for side hustles and I was
doing those things not because I enjoyed them, but because I thought that I'd make a lot of money.
And when those things weren't panning out, it led
to a lot of frustration. I was putting off like having kids because I
wanted to make money. Thankfully, I have kind of done a complete 180 on
those issues and I don't have that sort of relationship anymore. I'm still very frugal and spending money still
does make me a little anxious, but it doesn't affect me so much.
And I've learned that it's okay if it takes me a
year or two longer, if that means that I can enjoy the present significantly more. Oh my goodness. We were able to pay basically our entire mortgage
and then some renting out the downstairs of the house on Airbnb. So that was really, I think, my first significant
side hustle . Downstairs, so this used to be the Airbnb space. So we had just a bed down here and at one point
we had a TV and a mini fridge and a toaster. I think as we've been together a little longer,
my wife is becoming more frugal. In general, I'm definitely the more frugal one in
the relationship. I don't have too many things that I buy on a
regular basis outside of just like food and the mortgage and utilities.
I know a lot of people spend a lot of money on
groceries, and we do to an extent as well, because I do like to eat healthy. That said, there's a lot of ways that you can eat
healthy and cheap at the same time. Instead of eating a bunch of meat, you can eat a
bunch of beans. Beans are super cheap. You can buy a huge bag of beans for a couple of
bucks that'll last two months. And the same thing with rice. We're fortunate that we live in Minnesota because
there's this awesome nonprofit called Ruby's Pantry. Hello, I'm here for pickup. I have two bundles. That takes a bunch of food that would otherwise go
to waste. It's things that can't be sold in the grocery
stores for whatever reason. You never know what you're going to get. But for 25 bucks a bundle, a bundle is about half
a carload, they just give you a ton of food. Thank you. Appreciate it. And then you drive off and you have probably half
your groceries for the month, if not more. A lot of the free things we find for kind of
where you'd expect, Craigslist, online marketplaces.
But we also have kind of garnered a
reputation with our friends and family as being frugal and thrifty. And so we do end up getting a lot of free things. You know, a family member, will see something
free on the side of the road and will think that we might like it. That's how we ended up getting
our running stroller that I use to run with my son. We got a bunch of hand-me-downs from my
sister who have had kids, and that's all the clothes that our son wears. My hobbies include running almost every day,
listening to podcasts, playing video games with my wife, going for walks with my family. I meditate daily, chat with my family on Zoom
once a week. I like to bake. Another one of my hobbies has always been board
games. I think a lot of things that bring people
fulfillment in life and happiness don't cost that much money. I think a lot of people look at the
FIRE movement and they think that a lot of these people are just not living their lives at
all because they are just so busy stashing away money.
I don't think that's a fair representation
because in life there's no short supply of experiences. Most experiences that will make you
happy are probably free or extremely cheap. Obviously, money can put a roof
over your head, put food on the table, but when you're saving money, you're essentially buying
freedom. So the best way that you can spend excess money
is ironically, by saving it to give you more time in your life back to you to spend however
you want..
What is Gold IRA Rollover: Top Tips for Beginners
Harvey 0 Comments Retire Wealthy & Wise Silver IRA
are you seeking a way to fortify your financial future Safeguard your hard-earned wealth and attain Peace of Mind amid life's unpredictability uncover the remarkable potential of investing in a gold Ira the key to stability and diversification in these ever-changing times in today's video we'll reveal invaluable insights that will equip you with the knowledge to make well-informed choices under path towards a thriving and stress-free retirement join us as we delve into the glittering world of gold Ira Investments shining a light on the radiant opportunities that can brighten your Financial Horizons let's embark on this gleaming adventure and unveil the golden keys to unlocking a successful gold Ira investment what is a gold IRA a gold Ira also known as a precious metal Ira is a special type of individual retirement account that allows you to invest in physical gold and other approved precious metals like a regular Ira it has the same contribution limits and distribution rules but instead of holding paper assets like stocks and bonds a gold Ira is specifically designed to hold physical bullion think gold coins or bars as well as other precious metals like Silver Platinum and Palladium opening a self-directed IRA the first step to holding physical gold in an IRA is to open a self-directed IRA with an IRS approved custodian this can be a Bank Trust Company or brokerage keep in mind that many financial services and mutual fund companies handling regular IRAs may not offer self-directed IRAs next you'll need to choose a precious Mouse dealer who will make the actual gold purchases for your IRA your custodian may be able to recommend one for you choosing the right custodian not all self-directed Ira custodians offer the same investment options so make sure that physical gold is among their offerings before opening an account you can set up your self-directed IRA as either a traditional IRA with tax deductible contributions or a Roth IRA with tax-free distributions but before we continue if you're still searching for other reputable gold Ira custodians don't worry we've got you covered with excellent service to customers with thousands of five star ratings and hundreds of top reviews it's no wonder why this gold Ira custodian earned Money magazine's best overall gold Ira company of 2022 an investopedia's most transparent check out the link in the description below for our recommendation funding your gold IRA once your account is set up you'll need to fund it with a contribution transfer or rollover from a qualified plan like a 401k 403b or 457 plan keeping in mind the contribution limits after funding your account you can select investments in your custodian and medals dealer will handle the transactions on your behalf IRS requirements for physical metals remember you can't just buy any gold bar or Ingot for your gold IRA physical Metals must meet IRS finest standards for Purity and weight and be stored in an insured IRS approved depository when it comes to coins you're limited to bullion coins issued by certain government mints gold Ira Pros first let's talk about the benefits of gold IRAs one major advantage is the tax benefits they offer just like standard IRAs contributions made to traditional self-directed IRAs are tax deductible and qualified withdrawals from Roth accounts are tax-free this is a great incentive for investors looking to save on taxes while planning for their retirement another advantage of gold IRAs is their suitability for long-term Investments physical gold might not be very liquid but neither are Ira Holdings in general gold is well suited to an IRA whose assets you often don't touch for decades usually until you retire this makes gold a suitable option for investors who want a stable long-term investment in their retirement accounts lastly gold IRAs provide greater control over your Investments since they are always self-directed you can directly manage your Holdings and make all the investment decisions this level of control is appealing to those who want to have a Hands-On approach to their retirement planning gold Ira cons first and foremost gold IRAs don't offer tax advantaged income gold bullion doesn't pay interest dividends or other returns which means it doesn't really take advantage of the tax-free growth aspect of Ira investing the only tax break you'd get is on any capital gain resulting from selling your gold at a profit another downside of gold IRAs is the higher fees associated with them since you can't keep your gold at home or in a bank safe deposit box you'll need to pay a custodian to store ensure buy ship and transport the precious metals in your IRA gold Ira custodial fees are usually higher than regular Ira management fees so keep that in mind when considering this investment option lastly there are funding restrictions when it comes to Gold IRAs you're not allowed to move any precious metals you already own into your gold Ira nor can you personally buy precious metals and send them to your IRA a custodian must handle all transactions on their behalf which can limit your flexibility in managing your Investments so there you have it be ins and outs of gold IRAs while investing in gold has its risks a gold Ira can be a good option for those who want to diversify their retirement accounts and hedge against other Financial assets many Financial experts recommend allocating 5 to 10 of your portfolio to gold but before we wrap up today's discussion we have a special gift for you to help you make informed decisions and navigate the world of precious metals investing we've put together a comprehensive gold Ira guide and the best part it's absolutely free so make sure to pick up your free gold Ira guide in the link below this valuable resource will be a great addition to your investment Journey if you found this video helpful be sure to like comment and subscribe for more insightful content thanks for watching and see you in the next one
Silver and other precious metals IRA
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How I Retired Early With $3 Million At 36 In San Diego | Fired Up
Harvey 0 Comments Planning your Retirement Retire Wealthy & Wise Retiree Tips and Tricks
I think FIRE is the concept that
retirement is not an age. A lot of us go through the world
thinking that when we turn 65, something magical is going to happen and you get
to retire. And that's not true because if you don't
have any money, you can't stop working when you're 65. And the flip side of
that, you don't need to wait until you're 65 either.
If you have enough
money, you can retire at 55 or 45 or 36 like I did. And so it's just kind of
turning this whole idea of traditional retirement age on its head. My name is Jeremy Schneider. I'm 41 years old. I live in San Diego
and I reached financial independence at 36. I grew up in southeast Michigan, outside
of Detroit. My parents were kind of middle class. I went to college at the University of
Michigan. I studied computer science. I was in college from 1998 to 2002 when
the dotcom boom was happening, and I would see these young people just
a few years older than me who were making millions with tech startups. And it inspired me to start young. And then as I was graduating from
Michigan, I turned down a job offer from Microsoft to start my own Internet
company.
But I recorded my bank account the
moment the wire came through. I clicked
refresh and it jumped from $100,000 or so to over $2 million, which was pretty
surreal. And it was very abstract. I don't really know how much money that
was. The day after the company sold, I was
suddenly in integration mode with this very nice company that just gave me
millions of dollars. It was an especially busy time and so I
couldn't just like ditch and head to Fiji. I just saw that as like a finish
line that when I sold the company and made millions, I would just like be on
this beach. I was talking to the CEO of the company
that bought our company and I told him that vision. I was like, "All right,
I'm going to be on the beach." And he asked me, "What are you going to
do when you get back?" And what he meant was, you can't spend
your life on a beach, you know? I mean, you could, but that's kind of a
crappy life.
So I guess it dawned on me that I
couldn't just, like, spend the rest of my days sipping Mai Tais on the beach
because that would be really boring. I worked for the company that bought us
for two years, and then in April of 2017, I quit my job and officially was
retired or financially independent at the age of 36. And that was the year when I played
video games and traveled for a year. That first year of being unemployed or
retired or whatever you want to call it. It was just kind of like every day was
the weekend. I would always get asked like, "What do
you do all day if you're not at work?" And my answer would be like, "What do
you do on Saturdays?" It's amazing how quickly your time fills
up with meeting with friends or working out or working on projects or playing
games or traveling. And so I kept really busy and it was
really fun at first. But as the year dragged on, I found that
there's something missing in my life. There actually was a moment where I had
an epiphany where a year after I retired and played video games for a year, I
was on a vacation in Mexico and for a week I wasn't playing this game
Starcraft II, which I had become very addicted to.
And I realized what a
massive waste of time that was and how I basically just gave away a year of my
life to play this game. And so I decided that I didn't want to
do that anymore. And so I came back and before I played
another game, I uninstalled it cold turkey from my computer and haven't
played it ever since. Get it out of there. At the time, it
wasn't very calculated that I needed exactly $3 million. It was more of just a sense of over the
course of two years, the growth of my investments were outpacing my actual
W-2 income. Now, with the benefit of knowing about
the FIRE movement much more in depth, I know about the 4% rule, which says you
can live on about 4% of your investment portfolio. 4% of $3 million is
$120,000, which was like twice as much as I'd ever spent in a year. And so I think that I was easily FIRE at
$3 million. My net worth is about $4.4 million. $1.1 million is the value of my home you
see behind me. I was a lifelong renter until I was 38
years old.
I was actually living in my friend's
garage, which was converted to an apartment. I have a traditional IRA
with about $50,000 and a new 401(k) with my new company that's got about
$15,000. The other $3 million or so is all in a
taxable account just because it didn't fit in the tax advantaged accounts. I think my biggest expense is probably travel right now.
I'm just going on vacation. Restaurants, I think I spend about $800
a month. I don't have a mortgage. My home that
you see behind me is 100% paid for. I actually applied for a mortgage and
was denied because I didn't have a job. And so I just wrote a check and paid
cash. I don't buy things if I don't think I
need them. So, for example, if I look over to my
left, I see the keyboard on my computer, which I use every single day, which is
from college.
And so people walk into my house and
they see this like 1998 era keyboard and think it's ridiculous, but it's a great
keyboard and it works fine. And so why would I spend more money if I
don't need to? I live alone, don't have any roommates
or a wife just yet. Welcome to my home. I live here in sunny San Diego in this
two-bedroom condo. Come on, I'll show you around. This is my living room where I watch
CNBC Make It. This is my office. I sit here. I make Instagram posts,
TikTok reels. The kitchens over here. When I bought this house for $712,000,
everything was different. There was a gigantic wall that came
right down here. I knocked down the wall, remodeled the
kitchen from this big built-in table. It was about $100,000 in total for the
remodel. Guest bathroom. I actually did the tile work in that
bathroom myself. One of the few parts of the remodel. This is the master bedroom that includes
the peak view of Mission Bay in sunny San Diego way over there in the corner.
Over here is the master bathroom. When I bought the place, this was all
pink with a tub. And I put in a total new shower. Tile. One of these fancy lighted mirrors so I
can look at myself every morning. Do my daily affirmations. And that is the house tour. I'm going to bed. I started an Instagram account where my
plan was to share daily personal finance and money tips.
Every single day I would get the exact
same question, which is like, "How do I get started investing? What's a Roth IRA? What's an index fund? What investment do I buy?" And then after a year and a half, it was
mid 2020 and I was kind of bored during the pandemic. And I essentially started
a company by mistake by launching a paid product. I wanted to create just a
video course that walked through it that kind of was like a brain dump from my
brain to everyone who was asking these questions. So I decided to sell the
video course for $79. And the first week of launching this
course, we made like $110,000. And so I was like, "Oh, it took me four
years on my first company to make $110,000.
So this might actually be a real
business." I do a 25% profit share. So 25% of our profit is split among the
employees based on seniority. I have a friend, and about 10 years ago
we started a website called What's That
Charge? Which helps you identify mysterious
charges on your credit card statement. My buddy and I own it 50/50. And so it's been live for 10 years. I think we're going to make like $7,000
this month. I think that I've found peace with where
I'm at in life financially. I don't feel like I need more to be
happy. And so I'm not really chasing any big
financial goals. I'm still not totally immune to ideas of
like a bigger place or a vacation home or something like that. So that might
be nice if the company does well or my investments continue to grow. If I didn't have income from my current
job, I can live forever on my investments.
I'm living way below the
safe withdrawal rate from my portfolio short of some sort of economic
apocalypse in the future, which no one can predict. But I can live forever on
my investments..
Retired at 38: 5 strong reasons to retire as soon as you can (Retirement Planning)
Harvey 0 Comments Planning your Retirement Retire Wealthy & Wise Retiree Tips and Tricks
so early retirement has actually improved our
health so much that I actually think we'll be avoiding higher health care costs down the line
that may actually lead into our retirement funds and then early retirement has also allowed us
to achieve a state of intuitive living which has been absolutely awesome financially the
conventional wisdom is that early retirement could potentially be disastrous but frankly
I think so far two years into retirement that our early retirement has been great for us
financially these plus two or three more are just some of the very strong reasons why I would
Advocate that anyone considering retirement should do so as early as possible let me explain why
down below hey I'm Jean and for the past two years I've been retired in Bali Indonesia
with my husband today I wanted to discuss about all these reasons why I think retiring
as early as you can is a brilliant idea [Music] so Health basically don't wait till it's too late
I think that when most people think about health and retirement planning they just kind of hope
and assume that they will be in good health when they enter retirement and then that they pray it
remains status quo until the end but I guess most of us pre-retirement might be involved in jobs
that might be high stress with long hours at the desk and then naturally Fitness just isn't
what ideally it should be so all my life I've been struggling with skin rashes and allergies and
these issues tend to pop up every time my immunity gets low because I'm stressed I'm tired I'm taxed
but truly in the two years since we have been retired the manifestation of all these problems
have just gone down so much in retirement mode I'm happily keeping very fit doing all the things
that I know of like surfing walking the dog with the hubby eating better overall probably further
down the line maybe I might be avoiding higher healthcare costs having this health is actually
so much wealth it allows you to live life to the fullest because frankly all the stuff that you
want to do in your enjoyment of Life probably involves a lot of Health you want to travel
you want to scale that mountain at Sunrise to see that incredible view you need your help even
just to enjoy good food if you like us you like to eat you need your health I mean I know so many
people who have dietary restrictions because of high cholesterol or diabetes improving health is
actually one of the biggest and strongest reasons why you should retire early so the second big
reason for wanting to retire ASAP is actually intuitive living basically intuitive living is
really connecting with yourself and listening to your garden stings and your feelings as to stuff
like eating and rest and meditation relationships even your spending habits perhaps I don't know
how it is for you guys but I was generally living my life governed by a lot of shirts right I
mean I should be at the office by 9am so that I won't piss off the bosses I should stay in
the office stay late and postpone my workout postpone dinner so I can meet the deadline set by
my clients I should carry branded Handbags and of course I should be a corporate lawyer I mean why
would I want to be anything else right finally in retirement we are free from the demands of the
pursuit of money to listen to ourselves to truly tune in and understand what is the optimum cause
in life you can chart you really want to wake up every day without an alarm clock naturally because
you've had enough sleep you want to eat only enough and not too much I mean you want to make
better choices food wise intuitive exercise you know you're doing what really only appeals to you
maybe you don't like sweating in the afternoons so then you know get a gym membership or play
indoor record Sports whatever works for you I only wish that more people have the opportunity
to experience living life this way intuitively away from the entanglements and distractions
from regular running the hands the real life the third reason why you might want to retire
as soon as possibly is just that the earlier you retire the more time you gain in life I
mean if you think about it most of us live life as though we are invincible as if life
itself will never run out and therefore we do things like squander our time or sell it away too
cheaply in exchange for material things we each only have so long to live right and the money you
make in your lifetime you can't bring that with you when you go home so well might as well you'll
be the one to spend it when you can right Society feeds us like so many different narratives
about success and what it should look like but actually I think success is really not
about the achievements per se but it's just really a Feeling and I like to think that at
the end of our Lives when we're there in our last dying moments what we'll be thinking
about probably wouldn't be like stuff like oh I closed that three billion dollar deal I
think it would more be along the lines of like I had good friends and I loved my family I had
a good life you know I ate good food I laughed Lots I took care of my kids and my dog stuff like
that so don't squander the time that we each have maybe you have personal goals that you really
want to achieve stuff like learning Spanish or scaling the Great Wall of China or just
watching your kids grow up that's just a million places that are better to spend your
time at then at a job which you don't really particularly care for and which maybe you're just
doing just cause that's what everyone else is before we move on a big thank you to
skillshare for sponsoring this video so skillshare is an online learning community with
thousands of classes for anyone who loves learning if 2023 is the year you promised yourself
you're gonna finally explore new career or side hustle options or work on personal growth
then skillshare is the perfect place to start for me one of the ways we have fun in our
retirement is making YouTube videos when we first started skillshare was instrumental
in teaching us so many of the basics like videography storytelling and more till today
one of the best classes I ever sat through online anywhere is still the class by Sorel Amore
YouTube success build an authentic Channel that's worth the follow so her advice about finding my
Niche valuing authenticity over Beauty creating meaningful messages and providing value to the
audience really changed our perspectives on what we were creating back then for the better of
course we've gone from like 40 Subs to the 143 000 Subs of today and from time to time I still
pull up sorel's worksheet when I'm creating my videos just to check that I'm on track for
making something good for our people our audience it's always super easy to take whatever you learn
on skillshare and apply it directly to your life Pursuits whatever those may be I highly recommend
checking out skillshare and if you want to do that you can use my link in the description below the
first 1000 people will get one month of skillshare absolutely free you can try it out learn something
new move a step closer to your 2023 goals reason number four the earlier you start your retirement
the better you'll get at it with every other change in life we expect that we all need time to
learn how to do it well so things like becoming apparent for the first time even if like us it's
just a fur kid or transitioning from being a student to being a working adult and then there's
the transition from being and actively working adult to retirement mode it seems ridiculous and
silly even at first I mean it's like saying who doesn't know how to spend their free time right
but if you actually truly observe things around you retirement Falls really differently for
different people we all know the people who have retired and in their retirement seem a
little lost lonely left behind and uninspired and then there's the other kind of retired people
right the ones who go like when we're talking that I'm gonna grab Life by the balls and Max things
out a big part of that may actually be the point in life at which you retire whether at that point
where you retire you still have your zest your Zeal your energy your health your Fitness to help
you max out the happiness potential of that free time and freedom in retirement and then there's
the thought that retirement supposed to stretch out for a few good years at least right if not
for a few decades and doing that requires skills you know you need so many different skills to
have a successful retirement I think that's a topic for another day but basically you need time
to learn those skills whether it's Financial money management or social skills you know building
relationships and stuff but basically you need time to get all that down pat in order to have
a successful retirement so then the earlier you retire the better usually you will probably
turn out for you so the last and possibly the most controversial point I think that early
retirement could possibly be great for you financially and this is controversial because it's
directly opposite to what a lot of the experts say right you retire too early there's so much risk
that you miscalculate your finances or that world events take an unexpected turn and then you know
things go belly up and then you're destitute in your last years but I mean underlying all that
seems to be this assumption that in retirement we're all just going to be like one dead lazy log
and I think that these days especially if you're an early retiree that is just so not true maybe
like us with YouTube in our retirement in your own retirement maybe you'll learn new skills pick
up new side hustles and stay busy doing something that you're doing for the love of it for the fun
not for the money but having the money come in as a result of your side hustle is a nice bonus and
you know what it becomes an additional buffer for your later years so retiring early also allows you
to take advantage of things like dual Arbitrage Right Moving overseas to improve your financial
situation and yeah so like us I'm from Singapore but I'm now retired here in Bali Indonesia we're
not just here because life is more affordable but the fact is that our retirement sums in fact our
whole entire retirement is only possible because living here is so much more affordable as compared
to back home you know this wouldn't be possible at all if we retiredly and ended up having health
concerns right mobility issues for example retiring early and then using the time to keep up
with current affairs learning hedging strategies to minimize risk learning how to diversify our
Investment Portfolio I feel that the time in our retirement has been well spent to actually make
us more resilient and the fact that we retired so early also means that if anything goes badly up
time and youth are on our side if our financial planning for retirement had just sucked or you
know things unexpectedly go failure so prepare you know if we have to U-turn and go back to work or
maybe start another business it's not a big deal and then we'll go off Marshall the resources
that we lack and then we'll come back again and second time around third time around will
definitely be better each time at doing this so in terms of confidence and the feeling of
resilience that we will be able to make this last all the way I think that starting
early doing it early diving into it and understanding the parameters the potential
the boundaries of what we face in retirement actually really really helps well guys so
these are the few takeaways from our last two years living in retirement here in Bali and
I mean if you have any thoughts or objections or contributions to the points that I've made in
this video I'll love to hear them let's start a little discussion in the comments below you
guys have a good week ahead wherever you are and let's chat again next Saturday thank you
for watching and bye-bye have a good weekend