Quote:
Originally Posted by Mr Middle
I would not call it tips, because we did not go out to make it big. We dont know how and dont have the risk appetite. We were just squirreling away savings and decided to put a bit in various investments throughout the 20+ yrs. It was all due to good fortune, and timing.
Looking back, I think the HDB 4 rm flat which we got for <$90K and later selling for a 300K+ was a good step up. We went on to bite the second cherry, an exec flat at 200K+, our current home.
In our early years, as a couple without kids, we were saving 60 - 80 K a year (with bonuses). Even with kids, helped with slightly higher salaries, we were saving 80 - 100K yearly. Now we are saving 150K yearly (salary, bonuses and passive returns from investments).
We bought the condo years ago at 600K+ and now it is slightly above $1M. We also managed to grab some high yielding stocks at bargain prices not because we timed it, but simply because the cash was there. Stocks we bought at bargain prices which splitted and grow in value back to the pre-splitted prices! Eg are Comfort Delgro (previously was SBS shares), Semb Marine (bought at 83 cents), SIA (bought at $5 before it went ballistic and split)
However we are not resting on our laurels because stocks by their very nature are volatile. |
Congrats on your investment achievements and thanks for sharing how you did it. With property prices at current elevated levels, do you think a young guy like myself will be able to replicate your investment successes with property? Call me pessimistic but I feel that the golden era where people can make good money or even strike it rich with the right bets in property is now gone. Some young people can't even afford a roof now, much less make money by upgrading with a second cherry bite.
Someone else commented in this forum that much of the property boom was due to the liberalisation of
CPF (people allowed to use
CPF to pay for property purchases). I would like to add that opening up to foreign buyers also contributed not insignificantly (I remember reading somewhere about the 6-storey rule). Someone investing at around those times would have benefited the most.
So, if we take property out of the picture, I guess young people are now left with just this strategy and I over-simplify: save up diligently and buy good stocks, hopefully at good prices.
What are your thoughts?