I still have about six years before retirement.
That may sound like a long time, but I have started thinking seriously about what I want to do when that day comes.
I do not want to retire and suddenly wake up with nothing to do.
After spending most of my working life as a teacher, I think it would be difficult for me to simply sit at home every day.
I want to remain active.
I also want to build something that can continue after me.
The biggest part of that plan involves land.
I have around 40 acres, and my current idea is to develop it gradually for oil palm while setting aside part of the property for a campsite.
Nothing will happen all at once.
That is probably the most important part of my plan.
I do not intend to receive my retirement money and immediately spend hundreds of thousands of ringgit trying to complete everything in one year.
I would rather build slowly and see what works.
The Retirement Money Has to Last
Based on my current estimate, I expect my retirement gratuity to be around RM460,000.
That is a substantial amount of money, but it is also very easy to spend.
RM460,000 looks large when you see the number in a bank account.
Start buying machinery, clearing land, building roads, putting up structures and buying materials, and the number can become much smaller surprisingly quickly.
Because of that, I already have one rule in mind.
I want at least RM100,000 to remain as savings.
I do not want every ringgit tied up in land, machines and projects.
Having cash available matters, especially after retirement when your financial situation is different from when you are receiving a full monthly salary.
The rest can be used carefully and in stages.
If a project is not ready, there is no need to spend money on it just because the money is available.
Forty Acres of Oil Palm, but Not Overnight
My main agricultural plan is oil palm.
Eventually, I would like most of the roughly 40 acres to be planted.
But again, I am not thinking about planting everything at the same time.
Land preparation costs money.
Seedlings cost money.
Fertiliser costs money.
Roads and drainage cost money.
Then there is maintenance while waiting for the palms to mature.
It makes more sense to me to work section by section.
Clear and prepare one area properly.
Plant it.
Make sure I can manage it.
Then move to the next section.
I have seen enough land projects to know that having many acres does not automatically mean you have a successful farm.
Land that is poorly managed can become a liability.
I would rather have a smaller area properly maintained than 40 acres planted at once and then struggle to look after everything.
I Also Want a Campsite
Not all of the land has to become oil palm.
Part of my plan is to develop a campsite.
This is still something I want to approach carefully because a campsite needs more than a nice piece of land.
People need access.
They need toilets.
They need water.
There must be somewhere safe to park.
The grounds need to be maintained.
If families come, the place has to feel clean and safe enough for them to stay.
I do not want to build an expensive resort.
That is not the idea.
I prefer something simpler.
A place where people can come with tents, spend time outdoors, cook, sit around in the evening and enjoy a quieter environment.
It can be developed slowly.
Start with basic facilities.
See whether people actually come.
Then improve it based on real demand.
There is no point building ten facilities when visitors only need three.
Then There Is the Excavator Question
This is the part I keep thinking about.
I have been considering buying a used Hitachi EX120-5 excavator.
It is an older machine, but it is a proper medium-sized hydraulic excavator and the model has been around for many years. The EX120-5 is roughly an 11.8-tonne machine with about a half-cubic-metre standard bucket, so it is large enough for serious farm development work rather than being a small mini excavator.
On 40 acres, I can imagine plenty of work for a machine like that.
Opening farm roads.
Repairing old roads.
Cutting drains.
Levelling areas.
Preparing the campsite.
Moving soil.
Cleaning sections of land.
Building access to places that are currently difficult to reach.
If I already own the excavator, I do not have to call somebody every time I need a few hours of work.
That is the attraction.
But buying one also creates another problem.
Once you own an excavator, every problem belongs to you.
Hydraulic hoses.
Pumps.
Tracks.
Rollers.
Pins and bushes.
Engine repairs.
Transport.
Diesel.
And because an EX120-5 is already an old model, the condition of the individual machine matters much more than the name written on the side.
A cheap excavator can become very expensive if it spends more time being repaired than working.
So I have not made the decision yet.
Buy One or Just Rent?
At this stage, I think renting first may actually be the smarter approach.
If I only need an excavator for occasional land clearing, drainage and road construction, renting means I pay for the machine when there is work to do.
When the job is finished, the excavator goes home with somebody else.
No repair bills.
No machine sitting under a shed for months.
No need to worry about an undercarriage suddenly needing major work.
Buying starts to make more sense if I eventually find that I need an excavator regularly for several years.
There is another possibility too.
If I own one and there is enough demand around the surrounding villages, the machine might be able to earn income by doing outside jobs when I am not using it.
But I would not buy an excavator based only on the hope that people will rent it.
The work has to be there first.
So my current thinking is simple: develop the land in stages, rent machinery initially, record how much I am spending on excavation work, and then compare that cost with ownership.
If the numbers eventually show that buying makes sense, I can reconsider the Hitachi.
I do like the EX120-5.
But liking a machine and making a good financial decision are two different things.
I Want the Land to Become Something Useful
There is another reason behind all of this.
I have children.
Like most parents, I think about what I can leave behind for them.
I could simply leave cash.
But I sometimes wonder how long cash would last.
You can give somebody RM50,000 or RM100,000 and, depending on how it is used, the money can disappear surprisingly quickly.
Land is different.
If I can develop the property properly, plant productive crops, build access roads and establish something like a campsite, I am leaving an asset that can continue producing.
They may manage it differently from me one day.
They may expand it.
They may change the crop.
They may decide the campsite should become something else entirely.
That is fine.
At least they have something to work with.
For me, that feels more useful than simply handing over a large amount of cash and hoping it lasts.
I Am Not Waiting Until Retirement to Start
Another thing I do not want to do is wait six years and only then begin.
Some things can already be started.
I can study the land.
I can identify where roads should go.
I can improve access.
I can calculate costs.
I can learn more about oil palm management.
I can look at machinery.
I can decide which parts of the land are suitable for agriculture and which should remain for other uses.
Small decisions made now may save a lot of money later.
By the time I retire, I would rather already know the land well than stand there on my first day of retirement wondering where to begin.
Retirement, for Me, Is Not About Stopping
Maybe this plan will change.
Six years is enough time for prices to change, priorities to change and new ideas to appear.
I might eventually buy the Hitachi.
I might decide renting is much better.
The campsite may become larger than I currently imagine.
Or I may discover that a smaller campsite is easier and more profitable.
The oil palm project may move faster or slower than expected.
I am comfortable with that.
This is a plan, not a promise.
What I know is that I want my retirement years to have purpose.
I want to wake up knowing there is something to do.
Maybe one morning it will be checking oil palms.
Another day it may be repairing a farm road.
Another may be spent at the campsite.
And some days I may decide to do absolutely nothing.
That is also allowed when you are retired.
After decades of working according to somebody else’s timetable, perhaps the best part will simply be having the freedom to choose.
For now, I still have about six years to prepare.
And I intend to use them.
