About Me
Dividend investing in Malaysia. Saving and investing towards Financial Independence in Malaysia. Analysis reports on the best dividend stocks, REITs and investment strategies in South East Asia.
For advertising and/or work opportunities, you can find me hERE.
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. Currently working with a select few clients, helping them out with their finances as well as investments.
Below are some of my F.I. stats (2018):
- Passive Income (dividends): RM18,072.25 p.a.
- Portfolio Value: RM446,013.74 (as at March 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 enjoy living a frugal lifestyle (with the occasional lavish spending) while meticulously adding to my portfolio of dividend growth 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 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 RM453,205.61 in 2017.
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 financial freedom, the better off we all will be. I hope I’m able to start cultivating the Financial Independence mindset here at Dividend Magic.
Onwards and upwards!
hi leigh! i was wondering what minimum age would i need to be to start investing? and is everything in your portfolio ,companies that don’t deal with any negative products like alcohol etc.?
Hi Hanif,
Minimum age would be 18, if you’re below 18 you could have your parents or legal guardian assist.
What do you mean by negative? As in halal and Syariah compliant?
I think right now, my portfolio consists of halal products. But I don’t invest based on that. I invest in everything and anything as long as its profitable heh.
hi Leigh, i am a newbie in investment and would like to know more. thanks in advance.
Hi!
What would you like to know?
I’m inspired by you, I am amazed by how you grow into a huge amount of money in a short amount of time, but still I can’t figure it out how compounding interest works in stocks. Would love to get in touch!
Hey Isaac,
Thank you for the kind words! You can email me or message me on facebook.