How do you plan to retire? Do you have passive income? Do you plan to downgrade to a cheaper home?

56/57 retired couple with adult working son.
Now relaxing by the condo pool enjoying the morning breeze.
Our passive income is $90k pa (son contributes $12k pa). Our expenses is $60k pa.
Son settles his own expenses.
No car as condo is near an MRT station. No maid.

Some lessons learnt:
1. Buy condo early as prices will be higher over the long run. We bought our condo in 2003 at only $600k, now it is worth $1.4m, paid up.
2. Buy condo near MRT station so that you don't need a car.
3. Save as much cash as possible to invest in blue chips to earn dividends.
4. Don't gamble, smoke, drink, womanize. These are sinful and drains your money.
5. Exercise to keep fit, don't waste money on medical bills.
6. Look out for good and cheap hawker food.

Benefitting from the property boom only works if you got in at the right time. Those who bought at the peak of 1997 took more than 10 years to recoup their investments. Many others sold and took losses. Right now property is at another all time high. Nobody knows how much higher property prices will go, but the one thing that is certain is that property follows a cycle. What will go up will come down eventually.

Timing property market cycles has a big factor on luck.

42, $106k pa.
40, $100k pa.
EC, worth $900k, still servicing loan.
Jap car, worth $50k, still servicing loan.
Cash, CPF and equities, $400k.

Will work until 75 years old, retire for 10 years before dying.

Or I can just retire at 55, sell my EC and retire in Malaysia.
Spend retirement doing hiking, snorkeling, travel.
What should I do?

Do anything that makes you happy. No money you definitely wont be happy. But having money does not necessary make you happy as well. Gotta find a good mix of both.

Last but not least, health is wealth.

Your generation and those younger need a paradigm shift. 55 should not be the benchmark any more for retirement. Should be looking at 65.

I dont know whether if it is just me or everybody in my cohort is feeling the same. Although we are in our mid fifties, we still feel young (not just young at heart). I know some of you are probably smirking right now, but most of us (many with greying hairs, and some balding) are still very active and energetic. I can only see the next generation getting better, healthier and stronger.

At the risk of sounding cliche, 55 is the new 45, and 65 is the new 55.

On average, people should be living longer and their productive (economically) life should last longer.

Many people dont actually realise that the last leg of their working life is when they build up / accumulate the most in their nest egg. This "golden" period when they are in their 50s to 60s is when their children are grown up, loans paid off and when they can save the most.

So, I think it would be a waste to go into retirement just when your financial commitment winds down, and your savings accelerate.

Typical Singapore couple, mid 40s, total income $160k pa.
Lives in a humble 3 bedroom condo, now valued at $1m, loan left $300k.
Drives an Asian car, paid up.
Cash and CPF, $420k.
We enjoy a middle class lifestyle. We are happy with our life.
Our key concern now is our retirement.
Has anyone here retired in other neighboring countries?

I am intending to soon...bought a Iskandar semid ...and have Sg props to rent out for passive income....most of my relatives in Malaysia tho I am Sgp...am 39 years old now and hope to retire by 45 years old there...or semiretire if bored after a while...

We bought a terrace house in 2003 and over the past 10 years, prices went up like crazy. We felt that the landed property segment is in a serious bubble and we sold our house last year for a big profit. We then downgraded to a condo in the OCR and paid in full. We cleared all our debts and managed to have cash of $1m to invest in global blue chips. True enough, after one year since we sold our house, prices of similar landed houses have been falling and continue to fall. Our condo, which was very undervalued, on the other hand, appreciated in value as OCR condos are very undervalued.

We are now able to generate decent passive income from dividends. We expect our passive income will grow and eventually able to cover our expenses in retirement in about a few years time. We are now millionaires and hope to retire at 55. This is our story of becoming millionaires.

Are you Malaysians? Any advice which town in Malaysia is the best place to retire? How much does it cost per month to retire there? Not keen on JB as crime rate there is very high. Appreciate your advice. Thanks.

I am sgp but parents born in my and converted to sgp...
I would recommended malacca. But Shariah Law may be coming so if u r Chinese, Chiang Mai may be better and cheaper to retire. Can migrate there and take out all yr cpf money but cannot in west malaysia....

If still want My, better ask malaysian friends on cheap and safe and cheaper rural towns....

Thanks for your reply. I think Chiang Mai looks interesting. Someone mention you just need $1k pm to retire comfortably there. If Chiang Mai, I can forward my retirement earlier.

mid forties couple
live in a humble semi-d at frankel (inherited)
drives a S350 (bought during low COE in 2009)
2 investment properties - 1 residential @ orchard boulevard, 1 commercial @ far east plaza. Outstanding loan $300K
CPF + Cash + Insurance $1.5m

Singapore is great. But I forsee may not be the case for my 2 kids currently in secondary school. However, when my spouse and I are gone, they will be multi-millionaires

Sole breadwinner hubby, 47, $120k pa.
Wife, stay at home mum. She did a great job raising our two daughters.
Passive income from dividends, $32k pa.
Family savings, $30k pa.
Home is a condo worth $1.2m, bought for $680k in 2006. Paid up.
Car, 1.6L, paid up.
Cash and CPF, $300k.

When I retire, I will sell my condo and move to a cheaper city.
Thinking of buying a condo in Iskandar.
What do you think? Is Iskandar a safe place to retire for an old couple?
Any Malaysian forumers here care to comment?

We are a low income couple, late 30s. We earn only $70,000 per year in total. We live in a 3 room HDB flat. We aspire to upgrade to a bigger flat, at least a 4 room flat.

Your son or daughter in law will also be multi-millionaires!

Humble middle income family, 48 & 50 yo, $200k pa. Condo is just a small 3 bedroom condo, worth $1.1m. European car. Holidays only twice a year, in June & Dec. We lead a simple life. Our retirement plan in 5 years is also simple - we will join my parents in KL, will sell our condo. Our net worth when I'm 55 should be around RM5m. Can retire in luxury in KL.

LOL, are you sure RM5M is enough for "luxury" lifestyle in KL? Comfortable maybe, but not luxury.

I just came back from visiting relatives in KL. Some of the bungalows or even terrace houses in gated communities are costing upwards of RM4M. I am sure you would want same level of comfort and safety you get in Singapore. For that, you will need to spend more.

Of course you can retire in luxury with RM5m. Just invest the RM5m in a low risk investment giving you 4% pa. or RM200k pa income or RM17k pm. You can rent a luxury condo for RM5k pm. You have RM12k pm to eat nice food and drive nice car.

Talk c**k very easy like sing song. I have not heard anyone monetizing their asset totally and put their cash into stocks or whatever. And how on earth can anyone take so much money (cash some more) out of the country ?

4% pa return is no big deal at all. a good investor can get many times more than that.

Talk c**k is definitely very easy but not sing song though.

44/45 low middle income couple, $100k pa. We upgraded from HDB flat to resale EC in 2006, we paid $450k for the EC. Loan left, $150k. Current value of EC is $900k.

We cannot afford a car, so we take MRT and bus only. We hope our son in JC will study hard in school and become a top professional and earn more than us.

When we retire at 55, we will move to Ipoh as cost of living there is low. Many Malaysians retire there. We will sell our EC and retire there. We also expect to get good passive income from our CPF retirement account.

Hello. What's the average months of performance bonus for those earning entry grade superscale salary in their early 50s?

Retired grad couple, earn passive income from dividends, $90k pa. Debt free, hdb mortgage cleared. No car. Our son gives us allowance of $300 each pm. We lead a simple, healthy lifestyle, spend only $36k pa.

Married couple, 48 & 54, $160k combined income. We lead a typical middle class lifestyle.
Home is an OCR condo, worth $1.3m, mortgage remaining $100k. We own a German luxury car, paid up. Cash/CPF/stocks, $500k. Life is pretty good.

Congrats! Glad to hear that! Stay healthy and peach

50 & 47, kids 17 & 14, income 60k, 4S hdb (about 360k) all paid up, minimum saving & cpf (100k) and no car. And some posters mentioned they are lower middle class when they are so much better off than us, well at least my family is heathly and happy.

In life, we need to count our blessings and not compare with those who are better off than us. Look at those who are worse off, then you will feel how lucky you are. There are families who can only afford to stay in rented 2 room public flats, whereas you own a huge (by comparison), paid up flat. The flat belongs to you and you can sell it any time you want. There are those who even live in tents at the beach!

Yes, the most important is your family is healthy and happy. This is better than having bungalows and sports cars but you are bed ridden and your children always quarreling and involved in sinful activities such as smoking, drinking, gambling, premarital sex or are gays. So, count your blessings that your children are well behaved and morally upright.

Hello, what kind of question is this? 6 months lah. What do you expect?

38/41, $130k on total, one child. Bought 2 room condo in 2010 for $850k, now worth $1m, mortgage left $400k. Drives a small 9 year old car, paid up. Our cash and CPF in total is about $400k. Our total net worth is now about $1m.

We will work until 65. We aim to save $30k pa so when I reach 65, we can save another $720k. When we retire, we will sell our condo and buy a HDB studio flat for the elderly. We will invest $1.5m in blue chip stocks to get dividends of $60k pa (4% dividend yield) and we will also get the CPF retirement account payout of $28k pa. In total we will have passive income of $88k pa or $7.3k pm. This should be enough as we just need to pay for food, utilities and public transport. We will also go for short holidays.

I plan to retire next year when I hit 50. After working for more than 25 years as a senior corporate executive in a huge MNC, I feel it is time for me to retire. I have paid off the mortgage to my 3 bedroom condo in a prime district, debt free and I have a multi million investment portfolio (built over many years using my big bonuses) which gives me good passive income. I plan to focus on my religion, health, family, doing social work and growing my portfolio. Time to reflect and smell the roses.

Wife is now 45, I'm 40. Our total income is $205k pa. We own a condo, where we are staying at, worth $1.6m. Still servicing mortgage. We also own a car, still servicing car loan. Our CPF and cash, $400k.

I sold my overpriced landed property last year at the peak of the market and made a lot of money. I sold at more than double the cost price. Then I bought a new and undervalued condo which has new and clean facilities. I paid for the condo in full and have extra cash to invest.

My family income is now $140k pa and we save about $40k pa. When we retire, we will sell our big condo to buy a studio condo and invest the cash balance. So in total, we will get passive income that will cover our retirement expenses. We will get a condo next to an MRT station so that we can travel easily without owning a car.

45, retired, earning passive income of $100k pa.
Wife, 40, earning $120k pa.
Condo paid up. Car paid up. Debt free.
Now spends a lot of time in the gym n pool.
Hope to do a marathon next year.
Feels healthier, younger, more energetic, happier.
Don't drink, don't smoke, don't gamble.

Couple in late 40s, $210k pa. Expenses, $170k pa. Savings, $40k pa.
High expenses due to servicing condo mortgage, servicing conti car loan, supporting parents, supporting children, family holidays, etc.
Our assets are our condo, car, CPF, cash.
We lead a luxury middle income lifestyle.
For retirement at 65, we will downgrade to a cheap HDB flat and get cash.
Also will get monthly from CPF retirement account.

Seems like all the people is planning to cash out on their houses when they reach 55 or so for a comfortable retirement.... but just wondering.... who will be there to buy over the houses at high price? Food for thought.

The buyers are the younger local professionals who are highly paid so they can buy these properties easily. Nowadays, young graduates can earn $200k pa very easily. So if these graduates marry, their family income is $400k pa. No problem buying a condo. There are also rich foreigners and PRs who are highly paid. So we must welcome these people to help us to retire.

46 & 48 grad couple, not top performers. Middle income, $170k per annum. Expenses, $140k per annum. Home is a condo, bought for $500k in 2005, now worth $1m. Total net worth, $1.5m.

Are there any grad couple in our age group earning less and has lower net worth than us?

Are we in the bottom 20% among grad couples in our age group?

Do not know if you are considered bottom 20%? My wife any myself are grads late 30s, combined income 250k/annum. Home is a condo, still servicing and a HDB fully paid up. driving a conti, we consider ourselves strictly middle income