I've been wanting to have some quality time with myself to reflect what happened in 2024, but I didn't really had the chance to do so.
Things got very hectic (read: chaotic) at workplace with a large scale project with at least 50 project members involved cross-functionally & across the globe. As much as I wanted to empower my team and other departments, unfortunately there are still significant dependencies on me (and my knowledge) hence unconsciously my attention shifted back to my works/careers (and of course not forgetting to take breaks in between to recharge). In the end, it was tiring, but still rewarding to see the accomplishments after almost 9 months of hell.
At initial glance, it felt to me that time just flew by, just like that, another year has passed, and nothing much was achieved. Now that I finally get some time to have peace/quiet moments, here I am - writing my (belated) reflection for 2024. And this year, I'm going to try out a new tool that my coach had shared with me when I had the opportunity to work with one to help me to accelerate growth in both personal and career space.
The "Wheel of Life" was to help provide better clarity on where I am at today, and determine what I would like to focus on next. When doing the exercise, it was very clear to me where I had excelled in (and also areas requiring "some" work on). What's tough for me was the middle-tier ones as I was hesitating the most, before choosing a "safe" mid-ground answer. There's plenty of free template online so I just found this one pretty simple to use (and also had generous free license), so feel free to use any templates that you see fit. How it works is that I'll be doing a self-rating from 1 to 5 in each category, with ONE (1) being really unsatisfied and FIVE (5) indicating that I'm over the moon.
Through this exercise I was able to recalibrate my thoughts into respective areas and take a more holistic view when assessing my 2024. In no particular order,
Now with the broad overview assessment out of the way, let's take a deeper dive on our finances before regrouping on the broad topic of goals setting & achievements!
From a quick glance, my overall expenses in 2024 actually reduced slightly by -5% in comparison to last year's spending, totalling at 188k MYR throughout 2024. Just as last year, the bulk of the spending went into paying down my mortgage as part of my decision since 2023 to accelerate my debt settlements.
To enable comparison between years, I've created a normalized chart where one-off capital "expenditures" such as Additional Mortgage Payment or Migration Fees were removed. From there, the same trend of -5% reduction in spending were observed, which is a good sign.
Ideally the expenses can go down even further, if the time calls for it. But at this stage, as with my motto - I want to maintain a healthy balance between maximising savings vs. enjoying life.
If I double-click deeper into the ~188K MYR expenditures last year, we can spot a very similar trend vs. 2023 where some of top spenders were:
Definitely makes up the largest of my expenditures so far. On the plus side, the additional ~73K I've put in this year helped to accelerate my equity building plan to safeguard my potential futures in case if my migration plan puts a huge dent on my finances.
If I keep at this pace, I'll probably be able to be debt-free in another 3-4 years time, that's assuming I haven't migrated yet to Australia by then. Speaking of migration, this was also another reason why I was able to put in much more (% wise) into my Mortgage than last year - since I did not incur any migration-related expenses in 2024.
For clarity, only the default mortgage payments of (~RM17.8k) are included in the normalized version of the yearly expenses.
Nothing much to delve deeper here - mainly to cover the cost of living, including insurances, for my family members. Not to mention also the occasional mini-emergencies here and there such as dental visits and hospital visits for my mom. Being the eldest in our family, my money was never truly mine, but family's. I wish my sister understood my burden sooner, but all good now that she has finally realized it after a decade later.
Since 2023, I've made a promise to at least travel once per year, capping the spends around RM10-12k per annum for travelling. Last year, I've brought my family to Taiwan. Frankly, the hardest part was actually convincing my mom to give Taiwan a try - she is so stubborn, just like me (or should I say I am stubborn headed just like her...).
I brought her to Hong Kong a couple years back and since then, she have been reminiscing the moments there and wanted to go back. But as we spent quite a couple of weeks there in Hong Kong already - there isn't much left to see. Plus hearing experiences from my ex-colleagues or friends whom are still there in Hong Kong - it's different now. Which was why I wanted to show her other parts of the world whilst she can still travel - and Taiwan was selected (for cultural similarities and budget reasons).
The best part? I'm having a bit of dejavu moment now since returning from our trip. Now she's always reminiscing moments in Taiwan and wants to go back there again - and meanwhile, I'm trying to convince her to explore a different country with me, be it Japan or Korea... saga to be continued. 😂
The amount I spent last year on gifts/treats mainly for my family (and occasionally friends) have almost doubled in comparison to year 2023, resulting in this new category taking over the top 5 expenditures spot. Good thing is, hopefully it's just one-off as half of this amount were spent on the iPhone 15 that I bought for my mom paid in full.
Significant improvement vs. year of 2023 - whilst still (very) impulsive, I managed to exercise a little bit more self-control here and spent only half the amount I've spent in 2023. Plenty of rooms for improvement for sure - but the experiment of setting a sinking category to "fund" my impulsive gadget purchase definitely helped to mitigate some impacts (though amount is still insufficient).
Paid of all my outstanding 0% Credit Card Instalments plan for my mom's hairdryer bought last year. And thankfully since then I managed to NOT utilise this facility for my purchases. Hopefully the trend continues in 2025 💪🏻
Just like last year, I had to prepare two different savings rate chart to help with my own analysis and exclude the additional principal repayments on my mortgage as those are building up my long term equity - exactly the same concept where I excludes all activities related to investment from my expenses tracking.
The first set of chart focuses on general savings rate (which includes additional principal repayment as expenditures) whereas the second set of chart focuses on normalized savings rate (excluding additional principal repayments).
From a quick glance, 2024's savings rate are definitely much more consistent even from the first chart alone. But if we dive deeper into the second chart, the savings rate has definitely improved tremendously due to the "forced savings" that I have mandated throughout the year - in the forms of additional principal repayment.
As with the last few years - September is usually where things get a little bit out of control where I would spend more than usual - typically for my holidays / travels / shopping spree during my birthday month. Nevertheless, the normalized savings rate in 2024 definitely have exceeded even my own expectations all thanks to my aggressive mortgage repayment strategy - something I can continue to ride on during 2025.
Pretty much the status quo here since my Ringgit Freedom’s June 2021 Updates: Mid-Year Checkpoint when I decided to expand my emergency jar from 6 months' expenses worth to 12 months' expenses worth. Nothing much to write here - spent a few bits here and there (mom's dental) but very quickly replenished it soon after (usually within the next month).
Let's first start with reviewing the performances of our Freedom Portfolio.
Thankfully, I broke the downward funding trend that started since 2021. Whilst still being very careful / conserved throughout 2024, I managed to invest / inject more funds than the year before and one of the main reason has got to do with the automated Recurring Investment facility offered by Interactive Broker. Note that the amount here fluctuates according to currency value hence the actual fund injected may vary.
It's starting to feel dejavu by now. Not surprisingly, 2024 was a very good year, with strong performance on most of my holdings raising my unrealized IRR to above 10%. When market performs this well, it really makes me wonder... "is this really sustainable? when's the next crash?" which was also the primary factor that I refused to invest any more than my regular DCA, pumping the rest into my real estate holdings (a.k.a my home!). From numbers perspective, that may not be the best way to deploy cash considering the historical returns of S&P500 being much greater than any mortgage interest savings could potentially yield me.
A new chart added just recently! I've always wanted to track my overall year-to-year snapshot so that it helps me to assess my portfolio performance vs. market funds out there. Not gonna lie - mine looks terrible, until 2024 where suddenly there's a huge spike of unrealized gain. Just America doing it's thing I guess...
As for the realized losses, since mid-2024 I have started trimming my portfolio holdings and as a result, some of those old funds/ETFs/stocks have been "sold" at a loss but most are consolidated into equivalent siblings (e.g. BABA/9988 Stocks, 3067 China Tech ETF consolidated into 3040 China ETF).
In 2024, I have closed 13 positions bringing down the active list from 30 line items to 17 line items. It's still a work-in-progress but I plan to eventually consolidate them into just a couple holdings, primarily in ETF's with a few stronghold dividend stocks. Last I counted there's still at least 3-5 funds/ETFs/stocks to be deleted or consolidated... an exercise to be continued in 2025 & 2026.
With the heated situation in the market, my cash pile continued to grow. I definitely hated holding cash (equivalents) but going all-in on anything at this juncture just simply does not make any sense. For now, these cash (equivalents) are just sitting in my fully-flexi mortgage account, reducing the amount of interest payable to bank. I think bank really hates me - last year alone, I've paid 50% less interest fees than the two years prior.
The good news though - I've finally crossed the 500K Asset Under Management mark for my very own self-managed Freedom Porfolio 🥳
There's no other better way than this to celebrate my portfolio's 10 year anniversary. Though, majority of these gain are all from 2024 itself (unrealized) due to the strong market momentum.
The regional allocation chart above probably speaks better in one slide than my long paragraphs can. The strong growth in US market have significantly threw my proportions out of whack, at least for my freedom portfolio 😅. Good thing is that I still have the "total" portfolio (including EPF/i-Invest) to play around with balancing.
I have decided to continue my last year's trend and include EPF in my yearly review - something that I only do once a year.
Though, it won't be as granular since many of the things are happening behind the scene, directly with EPF where there's zero influence from me (except for i-Invest which I only utilize to rebalance my overall portfolio when it goes out of whack).
What I'm most happy about, looking at this chart, is the sizable growth of the pink bar. Never once I would have thought that I will be managing a sizable portion of investments, almost on par with what I have in EPF today. Maybe one day, if I don't mess up too badly, that the pink bar will outgrow the blue. Maybe, just maybe.
Another milestone worth celebrating - my total portfolio size now exceeds 1mio, with EPF still holding the "majority stake" at 55% 😛. Note that for below chart, it has not included the latest dividend which was recently announced a couple days back as the snapshot was taken during 31 December 2024 itself.
If you're curious, with the 2024 dividend factored in, it'll probably boost the value by another RM25-35K and EPF's Portfolio IRR should go from approx. 4% to 5% IRR.
Unlike the Freedom Portfolio's Allocation that you have seen earlier, when considering EPF (and my own i-Invest) allocations, it kinda brought back the balances I've been maintaining so far between US-China-Malaysia & Others at 30:30:30:10 respectively (for equities). Though my main goal have always been keeping the balance between US and China.
2024 definitely is the year with significant milestones achieved. Those following my journey may recall that I've posted an update in Jun/Jul announcing that for the first time ever - I have finally achieved the "Millionaire" net worth status. In real life, it didn't change anything for me with life going on as usual - just like any other day.
Based on the extracts on last day of 2024, my net worth currently sits at ~RM1,138K (excluding the 2024 EPF dividend) which is way above my original target of achieving 1M by 2024 (before revising it to an additional year cause kiasu) .
Reflecting back, I've doubted myself when I decided to start this challenge sometime in 2019 or 2020, when I first started ringgitfreedom.com. Thinking to myself back then - 1 million in 3-4 years? Siao ah? But somehow with a bit of luck and persistence, miracle happened. For myself, it was the career growth in last 2-3 years that skyrocketed my income.
There are definitely many ways to achieve this. Some co-founded their start-up businesses into successful ventures. Some started their own content production studio. As for me, knowing myself and my level of motivation - climbing the career ladder seems to work best for me despite the stress and all kind of shit that I receive at work. I really am thankful to my company, without which I doubt I will enjoy the financial security that I have today. Though unlike the past, whilst not at the stage of throwing my performance away, I am definitely less aggressive than before in terms of the pursuit of career growth. I guess I had found the right balance that works for me.
The journey's definitely not done yet - for now, I'm not going to revise the target or set another big ambitious target numbers to chase for considering my own uncertainties in the next 1-3 years (migration). We'll cross that bridge when it comes, but for now the focus remains the same - building my equity and pay down my debts ASAP whilst I still have financial security / financial certainty in my hands to take the pressure away when I migrate overseas.
Just in case for those who are reading my year review for the first time - for my net worth calculation, I exclude the primary residence that I’m currently staying in, in the essence that it generates all the expenses/liabilities associated with home-ownership with no ability to generate income. Even if I choose to sell it, there'll be heavy costs associated with it when time is not on my side so I took an aggressive $0 value assumption for such primary residence.
This concept was popularised by Robert Kiyosaki's Rich Dad Poor Dad. However, I know that some of you, especially finance enthusiasts and/or accountants would prefer to stick with the standard accounting principles so there's also an additional dotted line for that which accounts for my home value based on past transaction values with a haircut of ~10% for miscellaneous fees associated with sales of a home.
Now, with all hat said, how do I fare in terms of Goals vs. Achievements? In 2024, I've inherited two goals from 2023, and created a new Goal #3 to keep myself in check. As a quick recap:
Goal #1: Achieve at least 55% Annualised Savings Rate (Normalised)
I need to continue something been continuously doing the last couple of years - to achieve at least 55% Annualised Savings Rate (Normalised). The normalised savings rate is calculated by excluding additional principal contributed to mortgage loan and also one-off migration related fees and allows for consistency in comparison vs. past 5 years.
This allows me to ride on the savings momentum whilst not over-depriving myself to focus only on saving but forget to enjoy life.
Goal #2: Plan Another True Holiday
I'm looking forward to plan for another true holiday, perhaps bringing my mom to Hong Kong (still trying to persuade her otherwise, there really isn't much to see in Hong Kong and she's been there twice already…) or somewhere else?
Goal #3: Carefully Craft a Move-Out Plan with Backups
I need to craft a move-out (from MY to AU) plan with more granularities by further refining my current high-level timelines. I'll need to start researching on nitty gritty so that I won't have to scramble at the last minute to decide where to stay, where to work, submit resumes everywhere hoping to nail a new job in a foreign land, etc.
Read more: 2023 in Review: Slowing Down Actually Took Me Further
Now, the question is - did I achieve all 3 goals? In short, not really.
Continuing the celebration trends last couple of years, I want to celebrate what we have achieved throughout 2024 in no particular order 🥳
And maybe just to pen down some of my regrets - if any - to serve as my own reminder for the future me:
Overall, 2024 wasn't that shabby. I achieved most goals that I've set (easy goals heh) and missed the mark on some - partially due to underestimation of the time taken for visa approvals (it's been 15 months and sill counting...).
Could I do more? Definitely. But I'm happy enough where I am at. I got to see my long-time idol for the first time, after a long hiatus from stanning after university graduation. I also somehow started my journey in learning Korean, something that I've tried multiple times in the past and failed. Third time's always the charm, huh? Fun fact, I created two websites prior to ringgitfreedom.com and both of them died within 1-3 months, just like my previous two initiatives to learn Korean.
With all those said, what is the 2025 outlook for me, and whare are my plans? Like last year, if it's ain't broken don't fix it - so I'm going to shamelessly inherit, but improvise, on my last year's goals:
Considering the continuous growth of income and somewhat successful in keeping my lifestyle inflation in check - I've decided to set a target that better aligns with what I can realistically achieve based on last year's achievement. We was merely one percent short (at 64%) during 2024, so I think setting a target of 65% is realistic enough and provides a little stretch - as long as I can contain my lifestyle inflation.
Lo and behold, after several rounds of convincing by my teacher, I've decided to just sign up for the TOPIK I exam anyway. He said it won't be too hard and I hope he's right about it. The real challenge is squeezing my motivation and a bit of time to do all these past year exam papers so I've decided to put a carrot in front of me: earning my holiday trip to Korea.
It's been at least 8 years, I think, since my last visit to Korea. Definitely wants to go back there and mainly to visit cities outside of Seoul (still thinking of Busan, Jeju, or somewhere else less "touristy").
So yeah, let's get this exam sorted first then I'll start planning the holidays!
This is a direct copy-paste from last year. Basically, I sill need to craft a move-out (from MY to AU) plan with more granularities by further refining my current high-level timelines. It gets tricky with the continuous delays from Australian Immigration in terms of visa grants timeline. From 12 months to 13 to 14 to 15 and now, based on latest estimates, it'll take at least 20 months for approvals.
Regardless, it's still good if I can start researching on some of those nitty-gritty so that I won't have to scramble at the last minute to decide where to stay, where to work, submit resumes everywhere hoping to nail a new job in a foreign land, etc.
So, with all that basic goals set, what does my 2025's focus look like in terms of the Circle of Life? Just two focus areas: Health and Spirituality.
And with this, introducing a new Goal #4 for myself in 2025:
Perhaps this should have been the #1 goal - but anyways. I have a long journey ahead of me, especially considering the tough route that I decided to pick for myself. In all truthfulness, I could have chosen to just settle down in Malaysia - perhaps by working for another 2-5 years max, I can retire super comfortably here, no longer needing to WORK FOR MONEY but do whatever I deem passionate about.
Choosing to immigrate at this age poses a challenge, as I have give up some of the head-start that I had built so hard for in the last decade - in all aspects of life, financial, social connections, etc. in a completely foreign country that may not fully recognize my talents.
To drive changes with this level of insanity - I need a STRONG ME. Both mentally and physically. I won't set big goals here like walking 10-20K steps per day because I know big numbers will just scare me away (like many times before). But I pledge to eat healthier, walk more whenever possible, and give myself some time to do soul-searching meditations rather than burying myself fully at work, lessons, homework's, gaming, and all other stuff that numbs my brain.
Remember back in those college / university years, when we have finally done with the exams and are given a long semester break whilst waiting for the next semester to start? 2024 definitely feels that way for me. It felt that I have accomplished nothing, but also accomplished plenty at the same time given how fast the time feels.
Ever since I made up my mind to pursue my Australia migration journey in 2023/24, countless number of scenarios have played in my mind - some good ones, but more often than not the bad ones are replayed countless times. Deep inside, I know that some of these are irrational fears especially at time of change (I guess my career did help me even on my personal growth after all - as all these feels so dejavu when it comes to change management of human behaviour with new things)
But still - the biggest question I still have from last year was that how will my future look like? Will everything that I've spent decade working on go down the drain (given high living cost etc.) or will my portfolio & financial numbers continue to thrive? Only time will tell.
One thing's for sure though - with the delay in visa processing by Australian Immigration Department, it also opened up potential opportunities in my negotiation with my existing employer (since they also have presence there in Australia). At this stage, I'm just keeping an open mind, whatever the outcome would be. Even in the worst case scenario, all I have to do is to stick to my original plan and start applying for jobs in Australia once I've received (fingers crossed) the visa grant - since all companies, at this stage, are screening out all applicants without valid working rights in Australia.
The Wheel of Life is also an interesting concept that I've started to like, now that I've tested it myself. 2 (or 3?) years ago when I first decided that my life pursuit should be beyond just a singular pillar (Financial), I've expanded to "Personal Growth" and "Family/Friends" but with this Wheel of Life - it also forces me to think from additional angles previously not considered for. Let's see how it goes in 2025, and if all well, it should become a baseline that I will utilize going forward in assessing priorities for my life.
As always, thanks for reading and I will see you again in my next post! If you haven't already, be sure to follow me on my Instagram, Facebook and YouTube for the latest updates!
If you're interested in my past updates - do check out my previous Monthly Review or Year In Review!
Cheers,
Gracie