Quite typical of Singaporean couples in this age group to have around $2m in NW. When we were in our mid 40s 10 years ago, we had about $2.5m NW too.

So just to give you a glimpse of what your NW could grow to, in 10 years time (when you turn 55/56), our NW is currently at $6.5m. It grew roughly $1m+ every 3 years.

The important ingredients to the growth trajectory were:

1. Staying employed continuously (ie no break in income at any time)
2. Annual increase in salary. (Before age of 55, you should see your salaries growing each year. At 55, you may/may not hit your wage ceiling)
3. Invest for better returns (savings alone is a necessary step but not sufficient)
4. Grow your passive income to cover part or all of your expenses. Last year our passive income almost covers our expenses. This year we are expecting our passive income to totally cover our annual expense of $150k. And we are not even talking about the potential capital gain in our investment.
5. Dont lose money. Paper losses are ok during stock market decline, so long as you dont turn them into real losses. Stocks go in cycles. If the companies are fundamentally strong, their prices will rebound.
6. Related to the above point, buy stocks when markets are in decline. I maintain a war chest of $200k for such opportunities.
7. Likewise for property investment. We bought our investment property during market weakness.
8. Be patient. Borrow a quote from Warren Buffet:"The stock market takes money from the impatient and rewards the patient"
9. Another quote, from Robert Kiyosaki: "The 'poor' buy stuff, The 'middle income' buy liabilities and the wealthy buy assets."
10. Thus be frugal - dont buy stuff (eg high end hand bags, watches, handphones), and dont buy liabilities - expensive cars, club memberships, etc, but instead invest your savings - buy assets. It is the same as making your savings work for you!