Quote:
Originally Posted by Unregistered
u make the poster who has a combined family income of 160K PA sound as if hes in the lowest percentile of his age group.
based on the latest MOM survey, 160K plants him almost in the top 20% of income earners in SG.
yet you paint such a gloom picture for him, as if hes earning 16K PA.
lest we forget, theres 80% of the population earning lesser than him and his wife. |
The solution here is not how much the poster earn. This couple A can earn $160k p.a. but spend $140k p.a., leaving $20k in savings. Or another couple B can earn $80k p.a. but save $40k. Couple B will have a better retirement journey ahead as they have more savings, and they do not have to change their cost of living drastically before and after retirement. For couple A in order to retire, they will have to sell their condo. It will take quite a bit of adjustments when they downgrade to a
HDB.
With regards to the misconception of top 20% household income, let's look at individual earning power instead. That will paint a more accurate picture. Since it is a household income at $160k p.a., on average each one of them is getting $80k p.a. It comes up to around $5k a month (with 13th month and 3 months variable bonus). Base on salary.sg "Benchmark Your Monthly Pay By Age & Gender 2015", he is within the "45 - 49" age group, for gross monthly pay of $5,000, places him at the 53.8th percentile among males. We can push his monthly up to $6,000, he's still amongst the top 38%. So he is not among the top 20% of income if we look at individual earning power.
This situation is compounded by couple A higher cost of living (living in condo, having a car, etc).