About Me
Saving and investing towards Financial Independence in Malaysia.
I practice frugality and consistently save above 50% of my take-home salary. That savings is then used to invest in primarily stocks to generate passive income to fund my retirement. I firmly believe in savings to grow one’s investment portfolio.
My investing philosophy is to invest in growing, profitable companies. I particularly focus on companies that increase their profits year after year. In return, these companies should provide me with increasing dividends every year too.
I’m Leigh and I’m here to document my journey to Financial Independence in Malaysia. I believe in living frugally, saving up and investing. With this blog, I hope to inspire and help fellow Malaysians in achieving Financial Independence.
I am a certified financial planner with the Financial Planning Association of Malaysia. If you ever need help with your finances, you can drop me a quick message and I’d be glad to help. Pro Bono style.
Below are some of my current F.I. stats (2020):
- Passive Income (dividends): RM16,322.27 p.a.
- Portfolio Value: RM458,476.77 (as at 31 December 2019)
- Passive Income (property): RM4,000 p.a. (estimated)
- Property Value: RM60,000 (after mortgage deduction)
My portfolio – the Freedom Fund can be found hERE.
My Goals
I aim to become financially independent by 35 years old (I was born in 1990), I enjoy living a frugal lifestyle (with the occasional lavish spending) while meticulously adding to my portfolio of stocks.
To be able to maintain my current lifestyle, I’d need roughly RM36,000 per annum. I will formally pronounce my self financially independent when that RM36,000 p.a. in passive income is achieved. For now, all of my efforts will be to build towards this goal.
My Story
Reading books on investing and savings got me interested in Financial Independence. I started investing straight out of university. I didn’t have much then but I slowly built up my Freedom Fund as I started my first job.
Progress was gradual in the beginning but with the help of my new found salary, success in a new business venture and compound interest, I managed to grow my portfolio from a mere RM10,000 to RM345,955.92 from 2013 to 2016. And then to RM453,368.44 in 2020. I must stress that a huge amount of that growth is from my own savings and capital injections. The portfolio grew at a CAGR of about 10%.
It wasn’t easy keeping my savings rate above 50% per month. I still live with my parents, for the first few years, I didn’t splurge on food and lived well within my means. With a healthy portfolio and time on my side, I can now afford to ease up and enjoy life a little more.
I’m here to show you what real investing is really like, and that anyone can invest. There will be losses, there will be gains, I aim to be 100% transparent in my investment journey, documenting all aspects of it.
The more Malaysians we can get on the road to investing and to financial freedom, the better off we all will be. I hope I’m able to start cultivating diligent investing here at Dividend Magic.
Onwards and upwards!
For advertising and/or work opportunities, you can find me hERE.
