How much are you earning per annum?

anyone my age here?
28 earning 4.2k, working for 5 years starting with 2.3 k

too low but cannot seem to move

A husband & wife couple who are both engineers (they are not high income earners) can still retire at 55 if they are disciplined. They must not upgrade their lifestyle even though their income rises over the years.

Assuming they bought their BTO 4 room HDB flat at a very cheap price (at only $300k) and paid their mortgage off by 55 using their CPF. They also stay in their flat all their lives. Also they don't own a car and don't employ a maid (it costs $2k pm to own a car and $1k pm to employ a maid). They can easily save on average $30k pa over their 30 years of working. This means they can save $900k by the time they retire at 55.

With $900k, they can invest in a 5% dividend yield portfolio of good, blue chip stocks which give them $45k pa in dividends. They can also rent out two of their empty rooms since their children would have been married and staying in their own BTO flat. They can get $700 pm for each room.

In total, their passive income will be $5,150 pm. This is enough for them to buy food and pay utilities for two retired old persons. At 65, their passive income will rise by an additional $3,600 pm from their CPF Life. So it becomes $8,750 pm in passive income!

So, even an engineer married couple can retire at 55 if they don't overspend by upgrading to a condo, owning a car and employing a maid. These luxuries are just for those (eg bankers) who are high income earners.

We are very lucky to have the very cheap BTO HDB flat system, which allows those who are not high income earners to easily afford a home and retire comfortably.

Lucky last time landed is cheap, my civil engineer parents manage to buy a semi D in District 10. Maybe one day some rich banker will come and buy from us, then again also don't need the money lol

Originally Posted by Unregistered

A husband & wife couple who are both engineers (they are not high income earners) can still retire at 55 if they are disciplined. They must not upgrade their lifestyle even though their income rises over the years.

Assuming they bought their BTO 4 room HDB flat at a very cheap price (at only $300k) and paid their mortgage off by 55 using their CPF. They also stay in their flat all their lives. Also they don't own a car and don't employ a maid (it costs $2k pm to own a car and $1k pm to employ a maid). They can easily save on average $30k pa over their 30 years of working. This means they can save $900k by the time they retire at 55.

With $900k, they can invest in a 5% dividend yield portfolio of good, blue chip stocks which give them $45k pa in dividends. They can also rent out two of their empty rooms since their children would have been married and staying in their own BTO flat. They can get $700 pm for each room.

In total, their passive income will be $5,150 pm. This is enough for them to buy food and pay utilities for two retired old persons. At 65, their passive income will rise by an additional $3,600 pm from their CPF Life. So it becomes $8,750 pm in passive income!

So, even an engineer married couple can retire at 55 if they don't overspend by upgrading to a condo, owning a car and employing a maid. These luxuries are just for those (eg bankers) who are high income earners.

We are very lucky to have the very cheap BTO HDB flat system, which allows those who are not high income earners to easily afford a home and retire comfortably.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Lucky last time landed is cheap, my civil engineer parents manage to buy a semi D in District 10. Maybe one day some rich banker will come and buy from us, then again also don't need the money lol

Bankers usually buy GCBs.

I thought you and your buddy just said bankers can buy condo, engineers can buy subsidies HDB flats cannot buy luxury cars etc (which I prove untrue)

Anyway not that it impacts me, they can buy the whole of Sentosa if they like lol. My family has more than enough space at my current house, but more importantly everyone is happy.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Bankers usually buy GCBs.

[Sam Adams]

Don't be silly lah - bankers buy condos... Entrepreneurs buy GCBs.

Most of these jokers don't even know a GCB owner much less been to one but they sure love talking and speculating about who owns them

Originally Posted by Sam Adams

Don't be silly lah - bankers buy condos... Entrepreneurs buy GCBs.

This is what happens to people who quit their jobs young and spent their time looking out of windows. They even fear being caught in a little peak hour traffic jam. I mean what is a few minutes spent in a gridlock when at pay day each month, you are looking at $30k to $40k credited into your bank account?

You can also see that he is so out of touch with many issues and used obsolete data to make comparison and to make a point. A good example was that he said "only top management people can afford condos".

I would have just laughed them off as misinformed and outdated except that the loser was repeating the posts. Mostly by copying and pasting the same posts over and over. To me, that's the manisfestation of a deteriorating mind.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Most of these jokers don't even know a GCB owner much less been to one but they sure love talking and speculating about who owns them

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Bankers usually buy GCBs.

That's true. I have never heard of engineers (the salaried worker type) buying GCBs. Only those engineers who are brave enough to start their own company and eventually do well can afford GCBs.

Those salaried type engineers cannot afford GCBs. The most they can afford are cheap condos (below $2m) and cheap landed properties (below $3m). GCBs are definitely beyond their reach (above $10m).

I'm the engineering parents guy,

I don't think he is out of touch, I think he is jaded from his industry he just looks down on everyone else. I don't post often but I got a bit pissed over the generalization that engineer's don't make enough to retire like bankers do.

We came from a rented Joo Chiat apartment to now so naturally looking down on people ticks me off.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

This is what happens to people who quit their jobs young and spent their time looking out of windows. They even fear being caught in a little peak hour traffic jam. I mean what is a few minutes spent in a gridlock when at pay day each month, you are looking at $30k to $40k credited into your bank account?

You can also see that he is so out of touch with many issues and used obsolete data to make comparison and to make a point. A good example was that he said "only top management people can afford condos".

I would have just laughed them off as misinformed and outdated except that the loser was repeating the posts. Mostly by copying and pasting the same posts over and over. To me, that's the manisfestation of a deteriorating mind.