Late aughts (2008), the bet against hedge funds, and ONE hedge fund was party to that bet, betting the average returns of 5 funds of funds. Berkshire (actively managed, obviously) blew away both sides of that bet.
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I recently started.
Not unless you think the point of living is to have more money than others… How much someone who has no impact on me whatsoever has makes no difference at all in the meaning of my life.
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This guy?
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Didn’t age well…
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I started in my teens (employer compulsory super contributions) early twenties I started caring but am much more serious now in my early 30s.
My employer is legally required to pay 11% on top of my salary into a superannuation fund of my choice.
I also salary sacrificed 4% into the fund but recently received a promotion plus pay-rise of about 13% so have upped my salary sacrifice to 8%.
The only debt I have is HECS-HELP (Australian student loan system) which is taken care of by the tax man and is interest free but indexed with inflation every year. Opinions vary but the general recommendation in the Aussie finance books is to let that take care of itself and your money is better off elsewhere
I don’t own home so me and my husband put $800 a month each in our house deposit savings account. I could afford to put more but it’s important to me that our house savings are equal.
I put about $500 a month into an emergency fund I’m building up, $500 buying an ASX200 ETF, and the rest is money to live and play
I have a variable income so sometimes my personal savings amount goes up and down a bit. But this should allow me to have a healthy retirement when the time comes
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In the very least it should allow you to choose from better options. 
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Great post! Maybe I’m wrong here, but eyeballing those figures (USD? AUD?) makes me think that I doubt you would be meeting those targets if you continued living and working in Miaoli. The key in Australia, I suppose, is keeping expenses (i.e. what you burn) under control . . .
Guy
In Australia now so all in AUD. I have a good (but not excessive) income in Australia.
I had a similar setup in Miaoli but much smaller numbers.
I think managing expenses is key 1, we live in an old unit about 40 mins from the Melbourne CBD. Rent would eat up all our money if we lived closer to the CBD.
Key 2 is managing your income. I deliberately looked for jobs and that have productivity bonuses cos I hate getting paid the same as underperforming colleagues. The base salary for my job is $65,000, the ‘on target earnings’ is $85,000 but I’m on track to earn around $105,000. I work from home 3-4 days a week too. I also registered to work at the upcoming referendum $600 for an easy days work.
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Looks like it’s working out well for you.
(Much) Smaller numbers in Taiwan means the retirement plan wouldn’t work well from here, as you know well I guess, apart from vastly less choice of jobs in Taiwan.
You can’t get blood from a stone as they say. I tried my best but only way I could get good money and benefits was ‘onshore’ my jobs to Taiwan.
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They probably pay 600 ntd for that in Taiwan 
.
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Everything just got too hard in Taiwan. I actually really wanted to make it work and stay long term. Will likely earn my retirement in Australia and spend it in Taiwan.
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Started making contributions in my late 20s or early 30s, but wasn’t saving nearly enough until 40 when I moved here. Taiwan has been good to me for that— good salary, low taxes, low COL (especially affordable healthcare) means I can save half my income or more. Now on track to retire early, whereas I’d have been working until I was very old had I stayed in the US. The system is broken there for everyone except the very rich.
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The system is generally ok for the poor, upper middle class (using a much more limited definition than the sometimes quoted upper 20th percentile for upper
class (which starts at a lowish income for consideration to upper anything. ;))), and very rich, unless you’re making bad decisions. It can get pretty rough for the lower middle - middle class, especially if you’re not in a union.
I still haven’t starting preparing for retirement because I don’t intend to ever retire. Retirement is for pussies (sp?).
Anyone who has been poor would disagree. Other wealthy western democracies have far better social safety nets than the US. I agree with most of the rest of what you said, though.
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The poor have a decent safety net in the US, especially when kids are involved. The working and middle class are kind of screwed.
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I’ve never understood the concept of spending a lifetime getting good at something and then walking away from it while you still have gas in the tank. I’ve got so many things I want to get done or get better at that I’ll keep plugging away even if it’s only with a pair of scissors.
Towards the later part of his life, Matisse, almost blind and no longer able to paint using traditional means, resorted to “painting with scissors”.
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Retirement means different things to different people I guess.
For me its not walking away from anything but the freedom to do more and have more choices. I don’t wanna sit on a chair facing a TV while my mind turns to mush 
I’ll either work part time or just be out and about
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Plus people get tired of the grind or develop various illnesses as they get older, retirement is a great thing for those who want it.
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