How much are you earning per annum?

According to the Singapore Statistic department (.singstat.gov.sg/docs/default-source/default-document-library/statistics/browse_by_theme/population/time_series/hhinc.xls), the number of household earning $15k and above per month is 20% of all HH in 2014 compared to 5.9% in 2004!

The biggest jump was seen in those HH earning $20k and above per month. In 2004, these HH was only 2.9% of all HH, last year 2014, it grew to 11%

This thus explains why car prices and property prices were able to hold up well in spite of the various cooling measures and increased COE prices.

People here are earning more and with increasing HH income, inflation typically follows.

As long as you are still in the workforce, you should still be able to keep ahead of the inflation as your salary would be adjusted for inflation, if not ahead of it. For eg, just recently the wages for nurses and teachers were increased, prompting other civil service agencies to review their staff salaries.

This is not a one off thing. Every few years the cycle of wage increase and inflation rises repeats.

The question is how are those who have already retired going to cope? One way is to ensure your passive income is able to grow and keep pace, if not keep ahead of inflation. The other way is to ensure you planned a lot of buffer into your expenses. For eg, if you think you will only spend $5k a month, you planned for $8k per month with a $3k buffer. This will give you some more years in spending your retirement fund.

Those who retired young or planning to retire young, have to think through properly how their finances is going to last them 30 to 40 years.

My uncle retired 15 years ago when he was 58. Then people earning $5k pm was considered high income earner. Now people earning this amount can even qualify for housing subsidies. Times have really changed in just 15 years. He is now worried if his savings can outlast him with things costing much more than when he just retired.

His last resort plan was to go back into the workforce like some of his friends did. Working as security guards, McDonalds and admin assistants. In his 70s, he does not have many options.

Nowadays many people earn at least $300k pa. Those earning less than that and they are in their 50s are considered lousy.

Your uncle should just retire in JB. He can rent out his hdb flat and live in a condo in JB.

If you are earning a high salary, you should not look down on those earning less. And instead of saying people in their 50s who are still working are lousy, you should be holding up them as examples to follow.

I don't know how young or old you are, but you will be in your 50s one day. You may not even have a job then. You will then realize how difficult it is to hold on to your job when are you pass 50. Your children may still be dependent on you, housing loan still outstanding and retirement fund still empty. You will then fully appreciate and respect those who are in their mid 50s and above who are still working.

If you stop working young, hoping to depend on your children for financial support, you are perpetuating a vicious cycle for them. They will have difficulty building up their own retirement funds and in turn have to depend on their children. And worse if they have to support their in-laws as well.

That's why I always say, if you are healthy, you should continue to work - as long as you can. They say money cannot buy happiness, but I say without money, there is definitely no happiness.

The guy staying in the penthouse who kept posting/boasting that he was good at investment, I think he shared that he lost his job and couldn't find another. So he should know better how hard it is to keep your job once you are near to 50. So if you are still working in your 50s, hang on to your job. And without his wife working, I think he will be in panic mode.

No, people who are still working in their 50s are definitely not lousy. They are the ones who have stamina and lead more meaningful lives.

Let you in on a little secret. Even in my mid 50s, I still eagerly looked forward to pay day. Nowadays I have more such days:
- work payday
- dividend payout days from stocks
- rental collection days (now through ibanking, I used to have collect cheque to bank in)
- bond coupon payments
- interests payout from FDs.

You can do this too.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Nowadays many people earn at least $300k pa. Those earning less than that and they are in their 50s are considered lousy.

Your uncle should just retire in JB. He can rent out his hdb flat and live in a condo in JB.

Latest news released from LTA

Cat A down 1.8% or 30 less quota in every bid.
Cat B down 3% or 32 less quota in every bid.
Cat E flat.


Ho-say-liao.... COE will start to chiong back up..... New car buyers will re-start the panic buying!!! Huat ah!

Everyone assumes only the middle aged come here to write fantasies. Well, I'm 30 this year, and have worked for 5 years. My income has risen from a base pay of 48k (local u 2nd class hons) at an average rate of 25% a year. My base is now 150k and I come from an industry with bonus payouts of 4-6 months on average. Compounding is scary, you can punch these figures into your calculator to see. So I don't think people are bragging here, after all, no one's identity is exposed and none of the rich posters want to reveal who they are. There is no point and no satisfaction to be derived from such an exercise. I hope everyone can have a civil discussion on pay and financial management. I'm someone in need for good advice because I've frittered all my earnings in the past 5 years and am struggling to scrape enough through for a downpayment for a house of about 1.5m. If you think you deserve better and your current employer isn't paying you enough, jump ship. I'm one of the rare ones of my generation who finished 5 years with my first employer and am now moving on to my second. You're only as good as your company's opportunity cost without you, so work hard and enjoy the advice and data points people have given you. From this thread I've gleaned that I really need to strike the property market once it's fallen by a bit more, and just start funneling money into the asset instead of my crazy spending now. I also aspire to have a fully paid up property, and then a second, and a third, and let it roll. But I never lose sight of what I have to do at work now. Employers are stingy, that's the way of the world. They will get by with paying you as little as possible to keep you. So I'll keep my head down and work hard and smart to get further, and I'm thankful people who've come before me and shared their success stories here for me to learn from.

Welcome to this thread. Indeed there are many jealous people in this forum. They are envious of those who had made it big in their early years of their career and retired now in their 40s. These jealous old men failed to see that those who retired early worked very, very hard and they survived the intense competition. And after amassing their wealth, what's wrong with quitting the rat race and enjoying the good life?

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Everyone assumes only the middle aged come here to write fantasies. Well, I'm 30 this year, and have worked for 5 years. My income has risen from a base pay of 48k (local u 2nd class hons) at an average rate of 25% a year. My base is now 150k and I come from an industry with bonus payouts of 4-6 months on average. Compounding is scary, you can punch these figures into your calculator to see. So I don't think people are bragging here, after all, no one's identity is exposed and none of the rich posters want to reveal who they are. There is no point and no satisfaction to be derived from such an exercise. I hope everyone can have a civil discussion on pay and financial management. I'm someone in need for good advice because I've frittered all my earnings in the past 5 years and am struggling to scrape enough through for a downpayment for a house of about 1.5m. If you think you deserve better and your current employer isn't paying you enough, jump ship. I'm one of the rare ones of my generation who finished 5 years with my first employer and am now moving on to my second. You're only as good as your company's opportunity cost without you, so work hard and enjoy the advice and data points people have given you. From this thread I've gleaned that I really need to strike the property market once it's fallen by a bit more, and just start funneling money into the asset instead of my crazy spending now. I also aspire to have a fully paid up property, and then a second, and a third, and let it roll. But I never lose sight of what I have to do at work now. Employers are stingy, that's the way of the world. They will get by with paying you as little as possible to keep you. So I'll keep my head down and work hard and smart to get further, and I'm thankful people who've come before me and shared their success stories here for me to learn from.

48 & 46, working class couple, total earnings $184k pa.
We are staying in an old condo, currently worth $1.2m.
We still have $200k loan on the condo.
We own a small car, which we managed to pay off last year.
Our total net worth is only $2m ($1m each).
We are worried of our retirement. Do we have enough to retire?
We plan to retire at 65.
Any good advice how much we need for retirement?
We don't invest as we are very scared of investing.
We only have cash and CPF savings.

Hello.

I think you're worrying too much. Many Singaporeans are already retired with a lot lesser than what you have right now. If you plan to retire in Singapore, you can retire at 65. You will get your CPF Life monthly payment of $3600 pm for a couple if you opt for the Enhanced scheme. Your children, like any dutiful children, will give you $1000 pm. So with $4600 pm, you and wife can retire well provided you are not foolish enough to splurge on owning a car or employing a maid as these are unnecessary expenses when you're retired.

If you plan to retire overseas in a cheaper location, then you can actually retire as soon as your children are working and living on their own. This can be in the next 5 or 10 years, depending on how old they are now. How can you do this? You can sell your condo and plus your other cash, you could have $1.5m in total. Buy a portfolio of dividend blue chips which give you 5% dividend yield and you will get $75k pa. If you retire in Malaysia, this will give you RM225k pa of passive income. You can retire like a king anywhere in Malaysia with this income.

If you want to retire in luxury, you can rent a nice big condo in KLCC for RM5k pm and plus your other expenses of RM5k pm, your expenses win total will be RM10k pm or RM120k pa. You can save the rest for you to go for holidays all over the world.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

48 & 46, working class couple, total earnings $184k pa.
We are staying in an old condo, currently worth $1.2m.
We still have $200k loan on the condo.
We own a small car, which we managed to pay off last year.
Our total net worth is only $2m ($1m each).
We are worried of our retirement. Do we have enough to retire?
We plan to retire at 65.
Any good advice how much we need for retirement?
We don't invest as we are very scared of investing.
We only have cash and CPF savings.

It is funny to see people arguing without much substance.

You cannot conclude that people are envious of you when they don't even know what was it that you have achieved. Can you list down your achievements?

If you are referring to the multi-millionaire mid 50s guy, I think you misconstrued his concern for young retirees as envy. I mean why would he?

He is concerned that some people thought they could retire just because they able to achieve a passive income that covers their expenses. This is untenable because at a young age like at 40s, there is a long time horizon where many unknowns lurk.

The mid 50 multi-millionaire doesn't claim to know everything, but he have seen enough cases of what works and what doesn't.

We don't know your specific financial circumstances unless you tell us. Only time will tell if you are right or the mid50 guy is right.

What we do know is that people who continue to work have a higher chance of attaining financial adequacy in their retirement years than those who quit working early like in their 40s.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Welcome to this thread. Indeed there are many jealous people in this forum. They are envious of those who had made it big in their early years of their career and retired now in their 40s. These jealous old men failed to see that those who retired early worked very, very hard and they survived the intense competition. And after amassing their wealth, what's wrong with quitting the rat race and enjoying the good life?

Below is what I extracted from a survey:

"Affluent individuals are more than twice as likely as other people to keep working in retirement, according to a July survey by Bank of America, Merrill Lynch and Age Wave, a research firm based in Emeryville, Calif., that specializes in aging populations. Some 33% of retirees with $1 million to $5 million in assets are working, as are 29% of those with more than $5 million. While many people struggle to figure out if they can afford to retire, most affluent individuals who are working do so because they want to, not because they have to, according to the survey."

So I guess the mid-50 guy is typical of the affluent segment who are still working because they want to not because they have to. The survey though done in the US, probably holds true everywhere.