My wife and I are your typical Singaporean working couple. We are not scholars nor high flyers, we are just average. However, we were lucky to make the right moves in our property purchases.

We bought our first home, a HDB flat, in 1995 at a very low price. After working for a few years, we managed to sell our flat and upgraded to a condo in 2006 which we bought for $800k. We diligently serviced our mortgage and made lump sum principal payments over the years using our bonuses. Instead of splurging our bonuses on expensive European holidays or buying new cars, we used them to pay our condo mortgage. Today, we have paid off our mortgage and totally debt free. Our condo has also appreciated and now worth $1.8m.
We continue to drive our old small car.

We hope to retire in 15 years time when we reach 60.