Quote:
Originally Posted by Mr Middle
I may have inadvertantly offended some forumers here who said I was being insensitive in my postings here. I apologise. It was never my intention to offend anyone. I was in a way expressing some fear and frustration that as a thrifty middle income earner who scrimped for years aspiring to one day sit back and relax and enjoy the fruits until my last day will not see my dream turn out the way my wife and I have hoped for.
Many people who are still working may not have thought through their retirement planning. For me and wife, we are doing it now because we are reaching a critical milestone (55 yrs) and calculating if we could retire without down grading our already frugal lifestyle. In this climate it is getting difficult to have positive return of 3% (net of inflation of 5% or more), not to mention consistent return.
The other worry is the medical expenses. It was reported that in the US, many families were one medical emergency away from bankruptcy. Meaning they were not financially prepared for heavy medical expenses.
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MrMiddle... don't worry. I think you made a valid projection based on what you see in your own crystal ball.
To everyone else who may disagree... it may be ok for you or it may not be. We are living a sort of the Singapore Dream right now. Like how the Americans and Brits did some time ago. But you if do a check in London or New York, you will see a lot of people living at a standard they did not expect to have. Their quality of life has gone down. So things can change and will change.
We will not all be selling tissue packs (although if the trade is lucrative some GLC or conglomerate will get into it for sure). But we will be not be living the way we dreamed we would.
So do over-compensate to be on the safe side.
Sometimes I look at how some of my friends and relatives spend their income and I feel sorry for them. One of them makes about $20k a month but spends most of it. It is very short-sighted living. One day the gravy train will stop.
Take good care of yourself and your loved ones.
