Now that things are almost back to normal after a hiatus of 2.5 years, hubs and I have started to have our quick morning breakfast or brunch together again. We usually have our meals at eateries in our hood as it has to be quick – the both of us have work to do and don’t have the luxury of time to sit for hours to enjoy our food.
Our brunch yesterday was at The Lion of Punjab, a newly opened North Indian restaurant in our hood.
Food was quite good but we prefer Tasty Chapathi @ Bukit Damansara and Khan’s Indian Cuisine @ The Sphere, Bangsar South. This meal cost RM150! But there was a lot of leftover food to doggy bag home for the girls.The Masala Chai @ RM6/glass was pretty good with strong aroma of herbs, spices and ginger.Nasi Biryani was delish.
Brunch two days ago was at a kopitiam:
I ordered my usual Pan Mee without noodles but with lots of veggies, black fungus, minced pork and an egg.Hubs had Nasi Lemak. I am always in awe with how much this man loves Nasi Lemak. He cooks Nasi Lemak every single day but still orders this dish all the time! He loves comparing his Nasi Lemak with other seller’s and he still thinks that the Nasi Lemak from his central kitchen is the best. I have to second to that 🖐My Mee Rebus (without the yellow mee) today at the same kopitiam while hubs had Pan Mee. We shared a plate of Char Koay Teow with extra cockles, pork lard and Chinese sausage. I regret ordering the Mee Rebus though it was delish as I was only eating an assortment of deep fried crackers in spicy thick sauce. Such a high caloric, high carb and high cholesterol dish!Classic Western breakfast set at Les Deux Garcons (LDG) viennoiseries. The cafe is just behind his office and central kitchen.Buttery croissant and superb Canelés. At just two mouthfuls small, the Canelés is exceptionally good but expensive at RM8 each. Congratulations, it’s a baby girl! 😹 Haru loves being swaddled in a blanket or cloth and can spend hours like this or hiding under one. Cass and I guffawed at Haru who just laid still on the mattress while enjoying being swaddled. Doesn’t she look like a newborn baby here? 🤣If grandma saw Haru sleeping on the TV console, she’ll scream! 😬 I wipe the TV console every day, though, so she can’t find fault with Haru’s fur on it 😬We can never ever leave chicken or roast pork on the dining table unattended to. Haru’s always stalking us. The second we leave the table, she’ll pounce on the meat! Check out the wai sake mow on the chair, ready to swoop the meat the split second I turn my back.
According to a recent statement by the Employees Provident Fund (EPF) chief strategy officer, Malaysians looking to retire in 20 to 30 years will need to have at least RM900,000 to RM1 million in their retirement savings. And this amount is the “bare minimum” to live in an expensive city like Kuala Lumpur.
For people retiring sooner, they would need about RM600,000 in savings to live a fairly comfortable life in Kuala Lumpur. These estimates were projected after taking into account inflation and medical bills, and have not even considered major medical expenses.
As per data from the Ministry of Finance, as of 30 June 2022, over 6.6 million EPF members (or 52%) aged under 55 have savings of less than RM10,000 whereas 3.2 million (or 27%) of members under 55 have very critical savings of less than RM1,000.
Many members do not even achieve the official EPF basic savings target of RM240,000 by the age of 55 – a number set assuming that Malaysians will only need a bare minimum of RM1,000 per month for 20 years upon retirement. These statistics project a very worrying outlook given that Malaysia is a rapidly aging society.
But fret not, there are always ways to increase your retirement funds if you start to implement some cost-cutting strategies right now. Here are some simple ways to save money.
Cut down on non-essential monthly payments, automatic subscriptions, and memberships.
Switch to buying generics for medicines, food items, clothing, and everything else.
Plan money-saving meals.
Pack lunch to the office and eat at home more.
Skip the fancy coffee and tea shops. Brew it yourself!
Shop online and use cashback, free shipping, and discount vouchers.
Sell everything that doesn’t spark joy anymore.
Trim your grocery budget.
Set a budget and STICK TO IT.
Have a side hustle or freelance job on top of a full-time job.
If you are always procrastinating when it comes to growing your nest egg, it’s never going to happen. Whether you earn RM2,000 or RM10,000 a month, you will always find that your salary is not enough to put aside for savings. The best time to start building your reserves is right now, even if it’s just saving RM50 a month. Your small sum of RM50 saved per month will snowball into RM600 a year and multiply to over RM6000 in 10 years, thanks to the power of compound interest.
You can use an online savings calculator to help you instantly calculate how much you’ll need to save each month for your retirement, children’s college, and savings goals.
Online savings calculator.
Conclusion
All of us must have retirement planning the moment we start to work upon graduation. It’s never too early to plan and start. The sooner you start the better as you’ll save more and have a more comfortable retirement in your golden years.
