Originally Posted by Unregistered

You are no better than that fool. You don't compare with somebody else's financial situation (who you might wrongly conclude as worse off than you) and then comfort yourself that you can afford to live a certain lifestyle.

Many HDB dwellers have no loans because they got their flats direct from the gahmen with all the discounts. But they are not blindly upgrading to condos just because they can now afford to pay off their condos at once without any loans. They are keenly aware of the higher cost of condo living and the need to save for their retirement.

It is a foolish argument to say that just because there are people poorer than you, you are rich, and therefore can live like the rich. This was what the fool was advocating and you foolishly took up his cause.

Sad but true that not many people will do sufficient calculation to see if they can afford condo living, but sites like salary.sg which provides average household incomes against the types of homes that these people are staying, can help provide general sensing. And the couple with $140k pa income is clearly rounding up the bottom of the income range.