How much are you earning per annum?

If you need $50k pa in retirement, you just need

1. CPF Life. You will get $1800 pm each or $3600 pm ($43.2k pa)
2. $500k invested in 4% dividend yield stocks or REITs, giving you $20k pa of dividends
Total passive income $63.2k pa. You can save $13.2k pa to take care of future inflation.
At the end of your life you still have your stocks and home to bequeath to your children.

Don't need to be so stupid to need $6m to retire. Foolish.

No need to so rude. Keep an open mind, you can learn more. Not only that, rudeness is a sure fireway to kill meaningful exchange of ideas.

Also, it is obvious you have not invested in Reits before or have limited exposure to them. Reits in Singapore by law, have to distribute about 90% of their yearly taxable income to share holders. This may sound good to shareholders on the surface, but this also means reits hold limited cash for growth. To grow and acquire new properties, it is very common for reits to raise funds through rights issues. If you don't buy the rights, you will see your share values dropping and along with that, the dividend payout. If you want to buy the Reits, you will need to spend your retirement money which will eat into your cash flow.

Reits is thus not a good source of passive income for retirees.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

If you need $50k pa in retirement, you just need

1. CPF Life. You will get $1800 pm each or $3600 pm ($43.2k pa)
2. $500k invested in 4% dividend yield stocks or REITs, giving you $20k pa of dividends
Total passive income $63.2k pa. You can save $13.2k pa to take care of future inflation.
At the end of your life you still have your stocks and home to bequeath to your children.

Don't need to be so stupid to need $6m to retire. Foolish.

This is a long post.

There has been 10712 posts and in all probability, there should be at least one other parent with special needs child(ren).

How do parents with special needs child(ren) prepare for retirement. Let me define the parameters of special needs - it is not those 'mild' ones such as dysphraxia or even dyslexia or deaf or mild ADHD.

I am talking about those severe enough to cause a parent to stop working and take care of their child(ren) full time at home eg moderate/severe autism, chromosomal disorders (too numerous to list), bed-ridden and etc.

I am a parent of such a child. And I can tell you that one of the wisest financial decisions that I made was to let myself and my wife to continue working full time.

The fact is that, with these disorders, having a parent full time with the child makes little to no difference to the well being of the child. It does NOT improve end outcomes. It does soothe one's conscience BUT you gotta balance that with the opportunity cost of foregone salaries and deal with the 'guilt' that the child is not improving in spite of you taking care of the child full time.

What the parent needs to do is to put the child in a special school and also put the child in a Special Student Child Care (SSCC) after school. This will allow both parents to work for both income and respite from the child.

This will allow for decent accumulation of financial reserves. At the ppoint when the child reaches 18, you are most probably approaching 50. Then that is the time you gotta decide - do you want to continue work full time or part time (this luxury is afforded by you having worked full time for the past 25 years or so). In any case, your child will llikely go to one of the DACs and DACs can be expensive if your HH income exceeds subsidy thresholds. Do your sums well and try to get under threshold.

As you get older - approaching 62 and considering putting your child (by then a man or a woman) in a residential home), do think of renting out (do NOT sell) your HDB and rent a unit at a cheap condo across the causeway. Do NOT buy Malaysian properties. Rent instead. You need the flexibility in case the home has issues with your child.

Having a special needs child is already very tough on you and your spouse. Don't make it worse by having a financial crunch as well..

10 years ago, I asked an OT what he thought about me or my wife stopping work and doing FT care for my child. He advised not to. I am grateful for his advice.

Having said all this, I cannot say that full time work for both is a prescription for every family with special needs child(ren). BUT do keep in mind that there are 2 immutables in your situation (and mine).

1) Our child will remain disabled - UNLESS God allows a miracle but certainly not by the effort or work of man
2) He is going to need money, lots of money to provide for him while we are still around and after we are gone.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

This is a long post.

There has been 10712 posts and in all probability, there should be at least one other parent with special needs child(ren).

How do parents with special needs child(ren) prepare for retirement. Let me define the parameters of special needs - it is not those 'mild' ones such as dysphraxia or even dyslexia or deaf or mild ADHD.

I am talking about those severe enough to cause a parent to stop working and take care of their child(ren) full time at home eg moderate/severe autism, chromosomal disorders (too numerous to list), bed-ridden and etc.

I am a parent of such a child. And I can tell you that one of the wisest financial decisions that I made was to let myself and my wife to continue working full time.

The fact is that, with these disorders, having a parent full time with the child makes little to no difference to the well being of the child. It does NOT improve end outcomes. It does soothe one's conscience BUT you gotta balance that with the opportunity cost of foregone salaries and deal with the 'guilt' that the child is not improving in spite of you taking care of the child full time.

What the parent needs to do is to put the child in a special school and also put the child in a Special Student Child Care (SSCC) after school. This will allow both parents to work for both income and respite from the child.

This will allow for decent accumulation of financial reserves. At the ppoint when the child reaches 18, you are most probably approaching 50. Then that is the time you gotta decide - do you want to continue work full time or part time (this luxury is afforded by you having worked full time for the past 25 years or so). In any case, your child will llikely go to one of the DACs and DACs can be expensive if your HH income exceeds subsidy thresholds. Do your sums well and try to get under threshold.

As you get older - approaching 62 and considering putting your child (by then a man or a woman) in a residential home), do think of renting out (do NOT sell) your HDB and rent a unit at a cheap condo across the causeway. Do NOT buy Malaysian properties. Rent instead. You need the flexibility in case the home has issues with your child.

Having a special needs child is already very tough on you and your spouse. Don't make it worse by having a financial crunch as well..

10 years ago, I asked an OT what he thought about me or my wife stopping work and doing FT care for my child. He advised not to. I am grateful for his advice.

Having said all this, I cannot say that full time work for both is a prescription for every family with special needs child(ren). BUT do keep in mind that there are 2 immutables in your situation (and mine).

1) Our child will remain disabled - UNLESS God allows a miracle but certainly not by the effort or work of man
2) He is going to need money, lots of money to provide for him while we are still around and after we are gone.

Thank you very much for this.

Life is short

George Michael, 53, passed away

Princess Leia, 60, passed away

You could be next

How much do you need for retirement assuming you have paid up your HDB flat, has no debt and has no dependents?

For a retired couple, will need

Food, groceries, utilities, etc $800 pm
Public transport $100 pm
Medical and insurance $600 pm
Entertainment and holidays $200 pm
Misc $300 pm
Total $2000 pm

So if can generate $2000 pm in passive income, can retire.

How to get $2000 pm? CPF Life $1800 x 2 = $3600 pm

Savings $1600 pm (to take care of future inflation)

Do you need so much money to retire? No. You just need to have a paid up HDB flat and CPF Life. When you retire, you don't need a car, you don't need a maid and you don't eat at restaurants every day.

You definitely don't need $6m to retire. That's an extremely stupid idea. 99% of Singaporeans if they work until they die will still not be able to have $6m. LOL.

Just because you don't earn much and cannot make $6m even if you work until you die, doesn't mean that 99% Singaporeans are like you.

The below data shows how much people earn in 2014. There are 224,042 people earning $41k - $50k pa, and about 500,000 people earning below that. But I have a feeling many in this group are young workers just starting out.

Assessable Income. / No. Of People
(Gross income less deductibles)

$1m and above / 4,557
$500k to $1m / 14,757
$400k to $500k / 11,479
$300k to $400k / 24,268
$200k to $300k / 59,346
$150k to $200k / 70,315
$100k to $150k / 158,244
$80k to $100k / 120,538
$70k to $80k / 86,370
$60k to $70k / 115,089
$50k to $60k / 162,440
$40k to $50k / 224,042
$30k to $40k / 288,519
$25k to $30k / 136,256
$20k to $25k / 71,842
Below $20k - no tax.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

How much do you need for retirement assuming you have paid up your HDB flat, has no debt and has no dependents?

For a retired couple, will need

Food, groceries, utilities, etc $800 pm
Public transport $100 pm
Medical and insurance $600 pm
Entertainment and holidays $200 pm
Misc $300 pm
Total $2000 pm

So if can generate $2000 pm in passive income, can retire.

How to get $2000 pm? CPF Life $1800 x 2 = $3600 pm

Savings $1600 pm (to take care of future inflation)

Do you need so much money to retire? No. You just need to have a paid up HDB flat and CPF Life. When you retire, you don't need a car, you don't need a maid and you don't eat at restaurants every day.

You definitely don't need $6m to retire. That's an extremely stupid idea. 99% of Singaporeans if they work until they die will still not be able to have $6m. LOL.

Don't listen to stupid, foolish ideas

You don't need $6m to retire

Yes, if you don't have $6m, or even $2m, just live within your means. $6m networth people will lead their own retirement lifestyles. You don't have to follow them.

Don't be jealous, tell me how much you earn and what is your networth and I can help you plan for a worry free retirement.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Don't listen to stupid, foolish ideas

You don't need $6m to retire

Originally Posted by Unregistered

This behaviour doesnt match those high flyers that we know. They are still very much in their jobs in their late 50s and even late 60s holding senior positions.

It is because they enjoyed the work and the power. That's why they are successful and their job defines their place and satisfy their ego. Who says you have to retire to enjoy life?