Aiyo we are the opposite.
I am a retired civil servant, but I have $120K in passive income. I live in a 4 room
HDB flat in Holland Village. No mortgage, No car loan, but I have a 2 year old Mercedes C Class. I may live in
HDB, but I eat well at nice restaurants almost every day. I ask for lower salt, lower fat and high quality food. The hawker center food is tasty, but very bad for you. Even yong tau foo has a ton of salt and I am never sure what they put into that fish cake or meat. Salt is bad for blood pressure.
I enjoy mingling with my old pals in the civil service, some of them very well known and senior. I feel good when I drive to their country club to meet them in my C Class as I feel like somebody despite living in
HDB.
I brought my kids up to be competitive and to value money. Perhaps they are not spending that much time with me because they are working hard at their jobs, one lawyer, one doctor and one banker who is overseas. But I am proud that they are successful and that being a dad that pushed them hard, my kids tell me that they found me to be quite a difficult father when they were young, but that they understand and respect why I did it now that they are successful.
When I die, I want to be remembered as a successful person who came from nothing, but who worked very hard to support his family and who brought up 3 boys who were good, confident and well educated young men that did well in life.