Your HH income of $160k pa is not low however your networth of $1.5m is, especially for a 49 yo grad couple. Correct me I got the numbers wrong:

Total networth - $1.5 m coming from:

Home - $0.9m
CPF MS - 0.097m ($48.5k X 2)
CPF SA - 0.34m ($170k x2)
CPF OA - 0.15m ($75k x2)
Cash + others - 0.013m ($13k)

Downgrading is a given when you retire. You really should see how to cut down your expenses and start saving in earnest. At 49, there isn't much time on the horizon to save up.

Are your jobs secure? Hang on to them with your dear lives as you will have to work until at least your children complete their uni studies. As they are now in secondary schools (say sec 4) that will be another 5-7 years! Your big expenses are yet to come!

QUOTE=Unregistered;73847]My wife and I are a low income grad couple. We have two children in secondary schools. We are both 49 years old and only earning $160k pa in total. Our paid up condo is in the OCR and is valued at only $900k. We drive a small non continental car. Life is not so easy. We worry about our finances. We need to think which place to eat out or where to buy food from as we are very cost conscious. We cannot afford to employ a maid. We can only afford holidays in the Asian region such as HK, Korea, China, Thailand, Taiwan, Vietnam, Australia. Only once a year. We can't afford holidays to Europe or America.

Our net worth (including our condo and car) is only $1.5m in total. This is very low when we compare with our friends and relatives.

Are there any grad couples here earning as low as us? How do you survive with the demands and expectations from family and society? How are you preparing for your retirement?

Do we have to work till we are in our 70s? What can we do to prepare for retirement? Please help advise. Thanks.[/QUOTE]