u/Elegant-Suit5171

I'm a doctor in 30s now trying to finish my internal medicine residency in Indonesia while investing at the same time.

I don't have much but manage to slowly save up to 260K USD in IBKR portfolio through removing unnecessary costs such as watching movies and been eating cheap oatmeal.

I will be finishing my internal medicine residency in around 2 years so I might get a huge increase in monthly income.

My question is, should I just FIRE in Indonesia or should I move to Australia or USA and then FIRE there? I know that I will need higher amount of funds for retirement in the West but I hate my country and the people there. Indonesia is full of mor*** and I can't stand them anymore.

I once finished my postgraduate in Europe and I missed the time I spent there. You can say I fell in love with Western culture.

Don't look for the needle in the haystack. Just buy the haystack!" — John Bogle

This is my recommended ETFs for all of you new investors who have realized Indonesian's stock market is terrible investment. I have selected ETFs with low fees for people to invest long-term.

1. Large cap S&P500 - SPYM
2. Midcap S&P 400 - XMMO
3. Small cap S&P600 - AVUV
4. Global non US stocks - VXUS
5. Semiconductors - SMH or SOXX
6. Gold - IAUM

Just DCA or lump-sum with proportion of 50/10/10/10/15/5 %. It has annualized return of 16%, beating pure 100% S&P 500 annualized of 11.6%.

Happy investing.

"Let's say you are an Indonesian male 20ish age living in poverty. No family, no support, no education, no English language capability thus unable to read online to broaden your knowledge. You live in a small shack and have a salary of 3.5 millions rupiah/month. You work 7 A to 7 PM.

Assume, you have net expenses of 3.5 millions for food (3x warung/day, phone bills, smoking).

What are your plans to escape poverty? Lets also assume you refuse to not smoke at all.

Do you think you can escape poverty or should you just resign to your fate?

EDIT: This is not me

People say that money doesn't grow on a tree but this wrong. Money DOES grow on tree.

If you invest consistently in a broad index fund each month, the returns can accumulate over time and eventually contribute meaningfully to your financial needs. With sufficient duration and reinvestment, this process may support long-term goals such as Financial Independence and the option of early retirement (FIRE).

I have around 240K USD in investment. I started from nothing and slowly keep investing. Now I gain around 20K USD every year from compounding assuming 8-10% annual gain. This can already make Indonesian retire early but I'm not stopping cause I aim for 10 millions USD so I can one day retire in Australia or USA.

So keep investing. Nurture your small money tree and let it grow. Don't ever cut your tree. Only you yourself can save you from wage slavery.