How much are you earning per annum?

Originally Posted by lazyplane

And here we go again....

Typical peasant mentality. Only know how to find the easy way out for a pathetic barely passable lifestyle.

Very admirable trying to defend the engineering profession, What I do find funny lol is you trying to reason with certain loser mentality types. This forum has the good, the bad and the green eye losers. The fact they think only bankers make, and buying a condo means life achievement already indicates their loser mentality, don't bother lah

Ps I think I know roughly where your place is, should be near Ng mansion I'm guessing? If I remember that side used to flood before the canal was built hence the cheaper land prices.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Lol I find it funny you're trying so hard to find holes in my simple post.

Okay we have a small terrace around the area which we've been trying hard to rent out, because of this we've switched many agents and the agents come to our house for discussions.

One of the agents we appointed to rent out the place (thru recommendation) was somewhat naive messaged my dad and asked if we were interested in selling our place instead and she has a ready buyer at 8M. Honestly 8M for our place is a super duper good deal. Of course we turned it down politely (when I knew of it I was like wtf is she inexperienced or what?)

anymore questions?

My spouse and I will soon turn 55, an age we both look forward to as we had long planned for this wonderful age. We had started planning for our retirement years ago and we will soon enjoy the fruits of our labour.

We are ready for retirement as we no longer have any debt on our 3 bedroom condominium home. We have fully paid it up. We are fortunate that our home is near to an MRT station and a shopping mall. Our children have also grown up and will soon be independent as they will chart their own journey of life.

Once we reach 55, we will invest in assets that will generate passive income of $4,500 pm or $54,000 pa.

Here are our expected expenses (for 2 retired old people):

Groceries and food $800 pm
Utilities and condominium fees $600 pm
Public transport $200 pm
Medical and insurance $700 pm
Entertainment $200 pm
Holidays (pro rated) $300 pm
Miscellaneous items $200 pm
Total $3,000 pm or $36,000 pa

We can still save $1,500 pm or $18,000 pa.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

A husband & wife couple who are both engineers (they are not high income earners) can still retire at 55 if they are disciplined. They must not upgrade their lifestyle even though their income rises over the years.

Assuming they bought their BTO 4 room HDB flat at a very cheap price (at only $300k) and paid their mortgage off by 55 using their CPF. They also stay in their flat all their lives. Also they don't own a car and don't employ a maid (it costs $2k pm to own a car and $1k pm to employ a maid). They can easily save on average $30k pa over their 30 years of working. This means they can save $900k by the time they retire at 55.

With $900k, they can invest in a 5% dividend yield portfolio of good, blue chip stocks which give them $45k pa in dividends. They can also rent out two of their empty rooms since their children would have been married and staying in their own BTO flat. They can get $700 pm for each room.

In total, their passive income will be $5,150 pm. This is enough for them to buy food and pay utilities for two retired old persons. At 65, their passive income will rise by an additional $3,600 pm from their CPF Life. So it becomes $8,750 pm in passive income!

So, even an engineer married couple can retire at 55 if they don't overspend by upgrading to a condo, owning a car and employing a maid. These luxuries are just for those (eg bankers) who are high income earners.

We are very lucky to have the very cheap BTO HDB flat system, which allows those who are not high income earners to easily afford a home and retire comfortably.

Pathetic peasant mentality, if every singapore is so easily satisfied, no more nice condos and cars already.. Hawker will be full, restaurants empty ..

Good advice. Those who are not high income people should spend wisely. Many people aspire to live in a private condo but they cannot afford. Better for them to be humble and lead a humble life.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

A husband & wife couple who are both engineers (they are not high income earners) can still retire at 55 if they are disciplined. They must not upgrade their lifestyle even though their income rises over the years.

Assuming they bought their BTO 4 room HDB flat at a very cheap price (at only $300k) and paid their mortgage off by 55 using their CPF. They also stay in their flat all their lives. Also they don't own a car and don't employ a maid (it costs $2k pm to own a car and $1k pm to employ a maid). They can easily save on average $30k pa over their 30 years of working. This means they can save $900k by the time they retire at 55.

With $900k, they can invest in a 5% dividend yield portfolio of good, blue chip stocks which give them $45k pa in dividends. They can also rent out two of their empty rooms since their children would have been married and staying in their own BTO flat. They can get $700 pm for each room.

In total, their passive income will be $5,150 pm. This is enough for them to buy food and pay utilities for two retired old persons. At 65, their passive income will rise by an additional $3,600 pm from their CPF Life. So it becomes $8,750 pm in passive income!

So, even an engineer married couple can retire at 55 if they don't overspend by upgrading to a condo, owning a car and employing a maid. These luxuries are just for those (eg bankers) who are high income earners.

We are very lucky to have the very cheap BTO HDB flat system, which allows those who are not high income earners to easily afford a home and retire comfortably.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Good advice. Those who are not high income people should spend wisely. Many people aspire to live in a private condo but they cannot afford. Better for them to be humble and lead a humble life.

We must be prudent financially so that we have enough for our retirement. Don't just spend as you wish, and then become a burden to others in your old age.

Don't listen to stupid fools in this forum who tell you to spend and spend, beyond your means. Be responsible.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

We must be prudent financially so that we have enough for our retirement. Don't just spend as you wish, and then become a burden to others in your old age.

Don't listen to stupid fools in this forum who tell you to spend and spend, beyond your means. Be responsible.

Need to strike a balance. Its not good to spend everything and end up no savings, however must also have good financial goals, not super low ones that result in lousy retirement then try to convince yourself that money doesnt matter as it cant buy everything.

I see some of my PME friends do their retirement planning by assuming they can survive on $3k every month per person. Survive is can survive, but already work so many years why live so pathetically when you can finally relax.

And it's important not to squander your biggest asset (your human capital) by retiring young. Retiring young is already bad enough, and yet there are those who did it just to spend their time looking out of windows or because of the fear of getting stuck in a little bit of traffic jam. I was like "what kind of idiot would give up a high salary just to avoid a little traffic jam?"

The other problem of retiring young is that as time goes by, insecurity sets in when you see younger people start to earn more than you did, prices of things start to go beyond what you predicted/projected while your passive income remained constant and your savings get depleted.

For eg., one of the "retiree" from this forum boasted in the "compare your annual salary forum" that his passive income placed him above 70% of income earners here and that he was probably the richest retiree. At the top 30%, that translated to a passive income of about $80k pa. Not bad at this point in time. But remember, the passive income is not likely to grow and might even be reduced in bad economic condition, while those who are still in the workforce will see their income increase in time.

With just $80k pa of passive income, instead of enjoying your retirement, it is very likely you will be watching your every expense. That really takes away the joy.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Need to strike a balance. Its not good to spend everything and end up no savings, however must also have good financial goals, not super low ones that result in lousy retirement then try to convince yourself that money doesnt matter as it cant buy everything.

I see some of my PME friends do their retirement planning by assuming they can survive on $3k every month per person. Survive is can survive, but already work so many years why live so pathetically when you can finally relax.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Pathetic peasant mentality, if every singapore is so easily satisfied, no more nice condos and cars already.. Hawker will be full, restaurants empty ..

Totally agree. We must not be easily satisfied. We must work harder and longer to achieve more.

Don't be like the guy who is satisfied with living in a cheap condo, costing less than $2m.

We should all work harder and longer to aspire to own a Good Class Bungalow (costing $20m at least) plus an investment portfolio worth $30m. Then we can retire. $50m should be enough for us to retire well, travelling first class, holidaying all over the world and eating at high class restaurants.

All of you. Keep quiet and get back to work immediately. The day you can stop working is when you are in heaven or hell if you not lucky. Your children or dogs if you dont have children, will get to spend your monies because of your obsession with monies always not enough mentality. Ok enough......dont let me catch you here in this forum again.