Category: %%curBrbr

day2day burn rate. diff from cashflowPrjn and expenseTrak

disqualified by exclub[def] despite comfortable Brbr+FullerWealth

Posted on by tiger40490

update :

exclub concept brushes aside health, family harmony, career longevity, brbr, healthcare provision, citizenship,

Therefore, exclub is an incredibly narrow indicator of achievement or satisfaction.

In ffree^FOMO #9K/M and strugglfamilies earnS$7k #Julius, and again in this blogpost, I continue to put myself into the shoes of a 9K/M family.

With 9k salary, some exclusive “clubs” would reject my family members — financially disqualified to enroll.

These clubs include immigration (Singapore included), branded educational institutes, investment deals, cars etc.

In a similar way, when other kids (wives) can afford something nice like vacation deals, but I have to say “That’s unnecessary lifestyle creep we can’t afford”, it feels just like disqualified.

A slippery slope ! Even though we did qualify for many “exclusive clubs” like uchicago, SG citizenship, there is always an even more exclusive club. The billionaire-under-40 club would make most of us feeling disqualified and bitter, iFF we choose to feel bitter.

— paradox of China techie

I will try to give a concrete, specific description.

A 30 year old tech worker in Beijing (or Shanghai) may considers himself unsuccessful because a “decent” home typically costs RMB 5 million to USD 1 million, and his USD 60k salary (月薪 3万五) is insufficient. Basically, he is disqualified for the Beijing home-owner club.

If instead he chooses renting, then his salary could provide him a comfortable high Brbr (buffer) and a comfortable life. Consider

  • My parents together earn up to RMB 20k/M. They only need up to RMB 一个月几千块.
  • My uncles in Tianjin each earn below 10k/M in pension.

affordable workout classes: xpSelf^rmSelf

Posted on by tiger40490

Workout classes … is One of the greatest illustrations of the framework defined in rmSelf^xpSelf .

Q1: As of today, do I feel tougher working out by myself compared to a class?

— Q: is this creep? .. (not splurge) Yes according to the evaluative rmSelf’s, but I need to honor the xpSelf.

If I were to answer Q1 during every class, I would give a positive answer 80% of the time. In summary, I do feel good whenever I was in a class.

So there is some minor conflict between the evaluative rmSelf vs the xpSelf. There are other factors at play, though they would make this blogpost more suitable for the open blog.

  • factor: brbr, creep
  • factor: healthy longevity
  • factor: unhealthy dependency, resilience

— Q: how does personal training compare? The xpSelf would feel less rather than more comfortable, and the cost is much higher, offending the rmSelf.

So the best workout class is a large, low-cost class.

curBurnRate ^ t_savingHabit ^ t_creep

Posted on by tiger40490

burn rate /control/ and saving habit are closely related. The differences can be subtle. In everyday English, “saving/saver” can mean both spend-control and reserve-building.

  • curBurnRate — more about day-to-day control and discipline, including the prevention of unnecessary spend
  • t_savingHabit tag — more about long term benefit of consistent saving habit
  • t_creep tag — more about smaller lifestyle spends. I want t_creep to be more strict, with a more specific meaning

 

high-flyer burn rate: heavy burden #Mullins

Posted on by tiger40490

Looking at Rahul, P.Mullins, my sister etc — Capable professionals, but their level of minimum burn rate creates a long-term (if not permanent) burden on their shoulders. I think one of them might say that if no chocie, then he would be able to cope with a barebones burn rate like $3k/M, but I am not so sure.

I think the value-investing seminar target audience also feel a similiar burden — How the hell can I sustain my BASIC $2k/head family lifestyle if I don’t want to work so hard for 30Y and then sustain the same lifestyle beyond retirement? Their problem is really the burn rate.

In terms of burn rate, I’m blessed with a frugal wife, SG citizenship ..

[17]( !! impoverished) minimalist life:burn rate liv`Alone]U.S.

Posted on by tiger40490

“Modest” is another adjective, but I prefer “simple”. Many things are unnecessary complexities.

I choose to compare with my peers, mostly Chinese and Indian techies. I don’t know the locals very well.

  • #1 biggest percentage of monthly burn rate is rent. Many of my Indian colleagues pay $1k or higher. I guess they prefer privacy rather than collocation with owner.
  • #2 would be transportation. car ownership has many many on-going costs… Public transport is simpler but compared to Singapore, too costly.
  • My bicycle is much cheaper and simpler. (I tried a $80 bike in Walmart.) Below $5/month on-going cost.
  • #3 would be food. Most hot cooked (not Pre-packaged) food is far costlier than in Singapore.
  • hot drinks feel like a luxury. Probably costs $2-$7 but sub-$2 also possible. Packaged drinks are cheaper and simpler.
  • raw food is generally cheaper and simpler — nuts, veg, onion, carrot
  • mobile phone plans are higher than Singapore. I choose the lowest $23/$19 and rely on wifi — simpler. Works perfectly fine.

S$2500 family burn rate excl.hous`driv` #BizTimes

Posted on by tiger40490

I think household expenditure data is very hard to collect. Most households have no reliable [1] “system” to record expenditure. Big ticket items are often mis-classified as one-off.  Therefore, the practical estimate is an educated guess. A 2017 BusinessTime article entitled [[How to retire in 10 years]] shows an educated guess — a typical SG family spends SGD 2400/M assuming

  • target age group of this entire article is 35-44
  • with or without kids
  • take-home (after CPF) SGD 4k/M
  • mortgage payment not counted
  • non-driver

I think the target population is Chinese, Malay or Indian, including many families below the median.

[1] My system, XR’s system and grandpa’s system is fairly reliable.

— Brbr: this article assumes max-save i.e. Brbr = 3 to 5

passUp$2k/M pay: comfortable(!! luxury)burnRate S$6k→8k

Posted on by tiger40490

In Apr 2018, I made a choice to walk away from additional (USD 2.6k/M pretax) income because I felt I didn’t need the extra income, but that’s really based on personal burn rate (below S$2k).

Earlier, I made similar decisions — In Apr 2017, I gave up some BGC/PIMCO java positions above $800/D for a $715/D position

As a family, our burn rate is about S$6k, so the additional income does mean a lot. To feel indifferent about additional income, we should really live more comfortably, …like $8k (although I really wish it was $4k, which would make me feel more “secure”.)

  • more hourly maid? Yes
  • better furniture for wife? yes. I don’t need it.
  • more enrichment programs? no. too much!
  • more staycation? Yes
  • more taxi trips … to save time? yes
  • more eating out? No. already a lot
  • more vacations (like YLZ)? no. Too luxury not worth it

(practical)skill-learn`as recreation #ERE

Posted on by tiger40490

http://earlyretirementextreme.com/ere-book author says he enjoys learning practical skills such as bike building, and cooking, instead of overseas vacations and other expensive recreations.

Similarly hobbies:

  • computer system repair — can be fun
  • home decoration
  • home improvement
  • wood work
  • furniture improvement — I did a few times!
  • calligraphy

These recreations are much cheaper than some of the promoted and /popularized/ recreations like

  1. overseas vacations including flights, hotels and dining
  2. digital music, hi-fi, … — compare to guitar, singing
  3. photography — compare to drawing, painting
  4. golf — compared to jogging
  5. mountaineering

(My cost assumptions could be outdated and over-estimated) These activities usually require complex equipment and trained personnel, and they have commercial sponsors.  I don’t like their profit-motivation, but in reality, some of these activities can be life-enhancing for practitioners with special needs, such as the elderly or disabled.

There are significantly cheaper alternatives to these recreations (though this bpost is more about skill learning)