1. HOW LONG DO YOU THINK YOU’LL NEED TO WORK?
One of the most common regrets of the dying,
"I wish I hadn't worked so hard."
Do you work to live or do you live to work?
Have you ever asked yourself this question about work, "Do you work to live or do you live to work?"
Employment services firm, ManpowerGroup, conducted a quantitative research in 2016 titled "Millennial Careers: 2020 Vision" across 25 countries surveying 19,000 millennials. One of the questions asked in the survey was, "How long do you think you will need to work?"
According to the survey result, most millennials (born 1981 - 1996) know that they need to work longer than the generations before them, namely generation X (born 1965 - 1980) and baby boomers (born 1946 - 1964).
Globally, sixty percent (60%) of millennials expect to work past the age of 65.
Out of which, thirty-three percent (33%) expect to retire at the age of 65-69, and fifteen percent (15%) expect to retire at the age of 70 or older.
Surprisingly, twelve percent (12%) of millennials globally say it's unlikely they will ever retire. What does this mean? It means one in every ten working millennials globally feel that he / she can’t afford to retire at all even to the day he / she takes the last breath.
In Japan, that figure is more than a third. To be exact, it's thirty-seven percent (37%). That is one in every three Japanese working millennials likely to work until the day he / she dies.
China is the next highest at eighteen percent (18%), or about one in every five Chinese working millennials is likely to work until the day he / she dies.
How about our neighbour, Singapore? Take a guess? In Singapore, fourteen percent (14%) of working millennials say they are likely to work until the day they die. This figure is indeed two percent (2%) higher than the global average of twelve percent (12%).
Since Malaysian working millennials were not included in this ManpowerGroup's survey, I would presume that the figure would be around twelve to fourteen percent (12% - 14%) in Malaysia. Imagine - more than one in every ten Malaysian working millennials are likely to work until the day he / she dies.
Is that all about life? Working?
Isn’t it sad to work way past age 65 and even until the day you die?
If you are given a choice, would you want to work to death?
Now let’s take a look at remaining forty percent (40%) of working millennials globally who expect to retire before 65.
Twenty-three percent (23%) of millennials expect to retire at the age of 60-64; eight percent (8%) of them expect to retire at the age of 55-59, and six percent (6%) of them expect to retire at the age of 50-54.
This leaves a mere three percent (3%) of minority working millennials who expect to retire before the age of 50.
Below is a summary chart depicting when working millennials expect to retire:
When Working Millennials Expect to Retire
Age group
Percentage
Under age 40
1%
Age 40-44
1%
Age 45-49
1%
Age 50-54
6%
Age 55-59
8%
Age 60-64
23%
Age 65-69
33%
Age 70-74
11%
Age 75-79
2%
Age 80 or older
2%
Work until I die
12%
Source: “Millennial Careers: 2020 Vision” by ManpowerGroup
To put things in correct perspective, currently Malaysia's minimum retirement age is 60 and Singapore's minimum retirement age is 62. There are talks to raise minimum retirement age in Malaysia from 60 to 62. In the U.S., full retirement age is currently 66 years and 2 months for those born after 1955 and will gradually increase to 67 years for those born after 1960. Typically though, normal retirement age for various countries is between 65 and 67 years of age. But in a greying society like Japan where one in three people is expected to be 65 or older in 2025, the Japan government is to eventually make retirement at 70 mandatory in the future.
Now, back to you.
How long do you think you'll need to work?
How long do you think you'll need to work?
Until age 60? Age 70? Or work until you die because financially you can’t afford to retire at all?
What would you do when you reach the age of 60 or 70?
By then, your health might have been deteriorating due to ageing.
Your physical and mental wellness might not be as strong as before.
Things and dreams that you wish to achieve when you were younger might have become something unachievable when you reach 60 or 70. You might be aspired to climb Mount Kota Kinabalu when you were young, but now your knees give way to the steep climb. You might be aspired to cycle around the world but now your physical health condition doesn't allow you to do so. You might be aspired to try out some extreme sports like bungee jumping but now your weak heart can't take any shock. You might be aspired to go on a backpacking journey to all the beautiful mountains of the world but now your stamina has halted your journey.
At the age 60 or 70, your spirit is able, but body is weak.
Ever thought of being in the three percent (3%) of special minority group of people who aspire to retire before the age of 50? Ever thought of achieving your financial independence and time freedom before 50 so that you can live your life fully for the next 20-30 years?
Don't live to work. Work to live.
Don't live to work. Work to live.
Remember, life is short, fragile and unpredictable. Your life and my life can be cut short prematurely anytime.
A close ex-colleague died from a full-blown stroke at the age of 49 in early 2019. A dear friend's sister passed away at the age of 42 succumbing to breast cancer. A runner friend, a marathon pacer, was knocked from behind by a car in a hit-and-run car accident at a local marathon race in December 2017. She succumbed to head injuries and passed away at 44 after battling for 80 days in hospital.
Their lives were cut short prematurely.
Hence, don't put your life on hold too long. Don’t work yourself to death or old age. Don’t keep thinking that there is always a tomorrow to fulfil your personal dreams and life aspirations when you retire one day. That tomorrow may never come. Don’t short change yourself because of work.
Bronnie Ware, an Australian nurse who spent several years working in palliative care, has recorded the most common regrets of the dying in her book “The Top Five Regrets of the Dying” as per below:
The top 5 regrets of the dying:
Regret #1: “I wish I'd had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me.”
"This was the most common regret of all. When people realise that their life is almost over and look back clearly on it, it is easy to see how many dreams have gone unfulfilled. Most people had not honoured even a half of their dreams and had to die knowing that it was due to choices they had made, or not made. Health brings a freedom very few realise, until they no longer have it."
Regret #2: “I wish I hadn't worked so hard.”
"This came from every male patient that I nursed. They missed their children's youth and their partner's companionship. Women also spoke of this regret, but as most were from an older generation, many of the female patients had not been breadwinners. All of the men I nursed deeply regretted spending so much of their lives on the treadmill of a work existence."
Regret #3: “I wish I'd had the courage to express my feelings.”
"Many people suppressed their feelings in order to keep peace with others. As a result, they settled for a mediocre existence and never became who they were truly capable of becoming. Many developed illnesses relating to the bitterness and resentment they carried as a result."
Regret #4: “I wish I had stayed in touch with my friends.”
"Often they would not truly realise the full benefits of old friends until the dying weeks and it was not always possible to track them down. Many had become so caught up in their own lives that they had let golden friendships slip by over the years. There were many deep regrets about not giving friendships the time and effort that they deserved. Everyone misses his/her friends when they are dying."
Regret #5: “I wish that I had let myself be happier.”
"This is a surprisingly common one. Many did not realise until the end that happiness is a choice. They had stayed stuck in old patterns and habits. The so-called 'comfort' of familiarity overflowed into their emotions, as well as their physical lives. Fear of change had them pretending to others, and to their selves, that they were content, when deep within, they longed to laugh properly and have silliness in their life again."
As you can see, among the most common regrets of the dying, "I wish I hadn't worked so hard" is ranked number two. They deeply regret spending so much of their lives on the treadmill of work existence.
And the top regret of all is when people have realised that many of their dreams have gone unfulfilled because they have lived the life expected of others, not a life true to themselves.
How about happiness?
How about happiness?
Don't you long to let your inner child come out to play, laugh crazily, and do silly things in your life again - while you are still relatively young and while you still can?
We live only once. Hence, to live a life without regrets, how many years do you intend to be stuck in a rat race working hard in a nine-to-five job? Don’t you want to have more time as early as possible to live your life fully?
Personal journey...
Personally, I work to live, not live to work. And I never intend to work until I'm 60, or 70, or until the day I die. I don't want to end up like one of the dying in Bonnie Ware’s book, regretting spending forty (40) to fifty (50) years of my life working hard with no time to live a fulfilling life true to myself.
I aspire to experience life, to live, to laugh, to be silly. I aspire to have the financial independence, time freedom, health, strength, and stamina to fulfil my many still-unfulfilled dreams.
I aspire to travel more, to fill my life with adventures, not things; to have stories to tell, not stuff to show. Even though I have visited 17 countries thus far, I don’t plan to visit every single country in this world. I would like to spend more time in some of my most favourite countries (Japan, Taiwan, Thailand and Indonesia) in future. I plan to stay in different countries, taking up three-month or six-month short-term courses in Japan and Taiwan, soaking up local culture and learning new things. I’m also inspired by a university friend to go on a 100-day solo cycling adventure in Japan.
I aspire to run a hundred (100) full marathons (42km) in my lifetime. A running blog was born in 2010 out of my running passion. Sole purpose is to journal my running and triathlon journeys so that I can read it with fond memories when I’m 75 years old. Since 2012, I have completed 32 full marathon races 7 countries (Malaysia, Japan, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Thailand, Indonesia and Myanmar). I still have two-thirds or 68 more full marathon races to reach 100 full marathons. When my legs can’t run anymore, I will still run with my heart.
Having been using my logical mind at work all these years, I aspire to explore more of my creative mind. I aspire to write a book, learn about photography and video production, and pick up my guitar again.
Most importantly, I don’t want to live with regrets.
I want to spend quality time with my now 96-year-old father at home. You see, my mother could no longer be there for him since 2015. My loving mother had an unexpected fatal fall at home. The fall caused lethal head injuries to her head. Sadly, she fell into coma shortly after I brought her to the hospital. Within 24 hours, I lost my loving, kind, gentle, caring, healthy mother at 5:41pm on December 6, 2015. She was only 73. It was a shock to the whole family! It was very unexpected! It came as a blow to us! My mother didn’t manage to leave any lasting words for us. But I promised her that I would take good care of dad when she’s not around. I also promised her that I would live my life to the fullest as a way to let her spirit live through me. It’s also my way to payback my mom’s loving kindness in bringing me to this beautiful world. I know she could hear me when I uttered those words to her softly. I saw tears in her closed eyes even though she was in coma.
Wake up call in 2015
My mother’s sudden demise shook me up! My mindset has totally changed because of that incident. For at least 2.5 years after my mom’s passing, I’d lived in mourning and remorse. I regretted for coming home late from work every evening. How I wish I could spend more time with her every evening chatting with her. I regretted for being too busy and full of excuses to even accompany her more while she was cooking, sewing, and gardening. How I wish I could share more of her joy in her hobbies. I regretted for not doing the morning walks with her often enough. How I wish I could wake up in the early morning, hold her hands to walk every day for one hour. I regretted for being too busy to even bring her to travel often enough. How I wish I could bring her to more places to let her see the world.
In order not to live with regrets anymore, I made a life-changing decision in 2017.
Early retirement in 2017
I retired early from my nine-to-five (more like nine-to-seven to me) corporate job at the age of 49 years and 9 months. My last stable, consistent monthly pay cheque from a corporate job was June 30, 2017.
During the old days, I valued money more than time. I used to think I had plenty of time.
But now, I value time more than money. Harvey Mackay once said, “Time is free, but it’s priceless. You can’t own it, but you can use it. You can’t keep it, but you can spend it. Once you have lost it, you can never get it back.” A famous Chinese proverb says, “An inch of time is an inch of gold but you can’t buy that inch of time with an inch of gold.” I can’t buy time with money. Hence, I give up making more money in order to have more time.
I also come to realise that success is not just money in the bank. It’s about a contented heart and peace of mind.
Fast forward to 2020
Time flies. June 30, 2020 marked my third year anniversary of my early retirement. It also means that I haven’t received stable monthly pay cheque from a full-time job for three years already. And I’m excitedly marching into my fourth year of early retirement.
Happier, calm, peaceful, open and alive
I'm a much happier person now. I feel calm, peaceful, open and alive. And I'm living a life true to myself, experiencing a more fulfilling life, working towards fulfilling my many unfulfilled dreams.
More time for family
For the last three years after my early retirement, I have the time flexibility to have three meals a day with my ageing father. Now I can easily fit into his odd mealtimes, 6am breakfast, 11am lunch and 5pm dinner. I can bring him any day of the week for his medical check-up every three months, eye check-up every year, and occasional hospital visits for uric acid treatment, etc. I can drive him to visit my mother at Xiao En Memorial Park in Nilai every two to three months even on weekdays. I can take him out for a spin in the car every week or whenever he feels like it.
I get to listen to him talking about his glorious days while running a small hotel and restaurant in Langkawi. I get to laugh with him when he shares about the joyful moments with my mother. I get to listen to his life philosophy so that I can be more like him, a happy, contented wise man. In fact, the depth, width and duration of my conversations with my dad during the last three years is far more than all my conversations with him for last thirty years combined.
One of his life philosophies is that as long as a person is able to eat and shit, he / she should be happy. It sounds ridiculously funny but it has a deep meaning within. Actually, my dad’s life philosophy is simply to live a simple happy life without stress and worries. There is no need to be rich and famous. Health and happiness are the most important of all.
My passion for elderly care and senior living care will probably slowly drive me to do more charitable work for the elderly at old folks homes in years to come. I find that these old folks are the forgotten ones - by their family members and society. They deserve to continue to live with dignity and pride during their winter years.
I’ve also found more time to support my sister and her family on their personal matters.
More time to travel, take photos, learn and explore new things
I have also made more time to travel. In 2019, I made ten (10) overseas holiday trips, mostly solo trips, during off peak seasons while most of my friends were still busy working at their nine-to-five jobs. I’ve made my travel journeys more memorable by taking Instagrammable photographs with my iPhone and a tripod. I even became adventurous by sharing 6-person dormitory hostel room with like-minded strangers in Chiangmai and Phuket, Thailand.
More time for friends and school mates
With time freedom, I have started to catch up with old friends. Some of them are long lost and reconnected back. I’ve caught up with long-lost high school friends from Keat Hwa High School, Alor Setar, Kedah. I flew to Singapore to have lunch reunion with my University of California at Berkeley’s friends in 2019, who I haven’t seen most of them since my college graduation in America back in 1990. Recently, I was also reconnected with my long-lost classmates from Chung Hwa primary school in Langkawi. I haven’t met them since I was twelve. It has been forty years since we last met. And now we are all in our fifties.
More time for meaningful work
Starting March 2020, I’ve become one of the part-time tutors for a local company to share my U.S. university experiences with some local high school students who aspire to study data science or mathematics in top universities in America. It doesn’t pay much. But I’m doing it not for money. It’s one of my little ways to contribute back to community.
More time to chase after unfulfilled dreams - including writing a book
One of my life’s bucket list is to write a book. This crazy idea has been brewing in me for the last ten (10) years. It was one the reasons why I started blogging about my running and travel journeys in 2010. Unfortunately, I have been struggling to find time to write a book. Book writing requires a lot of times for deep thoughts, reading and writing.
Gratefully, I’ve received huge encouragement from my parents to write a book from the moment I shared my idea with them. In fact, it’s also one of my dad’s aspiration to write a book. He told me excitedly several times, “If I were younger, I would want to write a memoir about my life in Langkawi, how I met your mom, and how I built the small hotel business.”
But I told my dad that there might not be anyone who is interested in reading what I write. His humorous reply made me crack, “For sure there will be readers who are interested in reading your book. It’s either one reader or one hundred readers.” He laughed and continued, “But it doesn’t really matter how many readers. You are writing the book to fulfil your own dream. As long as you are happy writing it, just enjoy the journey. Don’t worry about readership.” What a great morale boost from my 96 year-old dad!
This advice is especially valuable because both of my parents only managed to complete standard six in primary school. They didn’t get to have the opportunity to attend high school due to poor family background. Nonetheless, they didn’t give up on learning. They were so eager to learn. They bought dictionaries and books to learn about English. They braved themselves to speak English with hotel guests in our small hotel business in Langkawi. They continued to read Chinese newspaper daily without fail. A day without newspaper is like a day without water to them. My dad also used to submit articles to local Chinese newspaper for publications when he was working in Penang.
I must have gotten the genes from my parents. I love to read and write too. After countless failed attempts over the last 10 years with a lot of frustrations, I finally succeeded in completing raw draft of my very first book with a total of 112,000 words within a three-month period from March 10 to June 10, 2020. I wrote virtually every day for three full months. Malaysia’s movement control order period due to Covid-19 pandemic forced me to stay put at home to churn out those words.
Another life's bucket list fulfilled
What you are holding in your hand right now is the final finished product of my unfulfilled dream. From raw draft to finished product has painstakingly gone through many revisions and edits. This is a book born out of my love to write and to share. With the birth of this book, I have also fulfil my dad’s dream of writing a book indirectly.
From the bottom of my heart, I can’t express enough thanks for your kindness and support by having this book in your hand. It means a great deal to me. I am full of gratitude to you.
Exchanging more money with more time
If you were to tell me earlier that I could retire at age 49 to live my life fully with financial and time freedom, I would have laughed loudly about it and shrugged it off.
In fact, I could have chosen the easy way by placing my dad in nursing home while I continue to work full-time earning monthly pay cheque in a high-paying job at corporate sector. But somehow, I couldn't find peace in my heart for such easy decision. Therefore, I have chosen a path not many people would take - choosing time over money. I'm grateful that my financial situation has allowed me to make this choice.
Seriously, it’s because I have decided to exchange more money with more time, only then I could have the precious time to be with my dad, to catch up with long-lost friends, to travel more, to learn new things like photography and video production, and to write.
I realised that you and I will never find time for anything. If you want time, you must make it. Hence, I stop making time for work. I start making time for things that matter most in my life – which are not things at all. They mainly evolve around people and experiences.
Retired early from a 9-to-5 job with own hard-earned money
If you think I can retire early because of inherited money from rich parents, think again! I wasn’t born with a silver spoon with multi-million Ringgit in my bank account. All the money is hard-earned by me. Not a single cent is from my parents, who were born in poor families.
If you think I can retire early because I have successful businesses under my belt, think again! I never had any businesses. I was just an ordinary folk holding on to nine-to-five jobs with stable monthly pay cheques. I was one of the millions of working people out there, who report to bosses, who work very hard to make a living.
After 27 years of working hard in corporate world, I can now happily enjoy my fourth year of early retirement.
If an ordinary working person like me can achieve financial independence before 50 to have more time to live life fully with no regrets, so can you!
In this book, I will humbly share with you my own personal experiences, mistakes made, and tips learned along this journey to financial freedom. I sincerely hope that this book can value add to you in your own personal journey to financial freedom.
You too, can live the life you love if you put your heart and soul now to make it happen.
SECTION 1
ABOUT FINANCIAL INDEPENDENCE
“When we allow our finances to control us, we give up many freedoms we value. The only way to gain those freedoms back is by taking control of our money.”
Darron Rowley
F I L L
Financial Independence, Live Life
achieving financial independence from 9-to-5 job before 50
Book manuscript written in 2020 & blog articles published in 2021 by Vincent Khor
Photo credit: Tim Gouw on Unsplash
