How much are you earning per annum?

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Will you bring all your money to the grave when you pass away? History has shown most men are fools. They think they will live forever.

You dont have to worry for the rich and what they do with their money. You should instead worry about yourself. Do you have enough to live a comfortable life in retirement? Will you outlast your savings? If you cannot answer the two simple questions, then why do you want to go and worry about the wealthy and what they do with their wealth after they are gone. Solve your own problems first.

Greed is a bottomless pit which exhausts the person in an endless effort to satisfy the need without ever reaching satisfaction. - Erich Fromm


Greed is not a financial issue. It's a heart issue. - Andy Stanley

There is a sufficiency in the world for man's need but not for man's greed. - Mahatma Gandhi

Greed is so destructive. It destroys everything. - Eartha Kitt

Successful people are always looking for opportunities to help others. Unsuccessful people are always asking, "What's in it for me?" - Brian Tracy

He who is not contented with what he has, would not be contented with what he would like to have. - Socrates

It is preoccupation with possessions, more than anything else, that prevents us from living freely and nobly. - Thoreau

Wealth is like sea-water; the more we drink, the thirstier we become; and the same is true of fame. - Arthur Schopenhauer

We tend to forget that happiness doesn't come as a result of getting something we don't have, but rather of recognizing and appreciating what we do have. - Frederick Keonig

He who is greedy is always in want - Horace

If your desires be endless, your cares and fears will be so too. - Thomas Fuller

If you are one of those who are not comfortable to invest in shares/property, the gahmen has put in place several schemes that can help you prepare for a comfortable retirement.


They are:

1. CPF - contributing regularly to your CPF accounts not only helps you build up your nest egg safely, it also allows you to save on taxes. Once you turn 55, and after you have met the Full Retirement Sum for your cohort, you can withdraw all your OA and SA money. Or you can leave the money with CPF to earn interest and just withdraw the yearly interest for spending.

2. SRS - contributing to the SRS allows you to save further on taxes each year. You can withdraw from it anytime but you will have to pay extra taxes. For most of us, we can withdraw the SRS from age of 62 to avoid paying the extra taxes.

3. CPF Life - This is the best annuity plan currently. It will start paying out a monthly sum when you reach 65 up to your last breath. The amount of payout will depend on how much you save in the CPF RA.

4. SSB - This is perfect for those who are really scared of putting money into stocks and commercial bonds. The interest is low but is guaranteed by the government and you can withdraw the money anytime without penalty.

This is how we are are planning to utilize the above schemes to fund our retirement:

At age 58 to 61

1. Interest from CPF (OA & SA): $50k pa
2. SSB drawdown: $40k pa

Age 62 to 64

1. Interest from CPF (OA & SA): $50k pa
2. SRS drawdown: $30k pa

Age 65 to 71

1. Interest from CPF (OA & SA): $50k pa
2. SRS drawdown: $30k pa
3. CPF Life payout: $48k pa

Age 72 and beyond

1. Interest from CPF (OA & SA): $50k pa
2. CPF Life payout: $48k pa

The above will form our basic retirement funding blocks.

Any other investments income (such as dividends from stocks and rental income) that we may have will be a bonus and augment your retirement income.

One important "ingredient" to building up a solid foundation is not to retire early. Because your CPF accounts needs time to build up and for the interests to compound.

Job: Cyber security, Investment bank
Salary: 240k (including bonus)

I thought you are going to continue working until 80 years old and leave behind your millions to your children? Why changed your plans?

Originally Posted by Unregistered

If you are one of those who are not comfortable to invest in shares/property, the gahmen has put in place several schemes that can help you prepare for a comfortable retirement.


They are:

1. CPF - contributing regularly to your CPF accounts not only helps you build up your nest egg safely, it also allows you to save on taxes. Once you turn 55, and after you have met the Full Retirement Sum for your cohort, you can withdraw all your OA and SA money. Or you can leave the money with CPF to earn interest and just withdraw the yearly interest for spending.

2. SRS - contributing to the SRS allows you to save further on taxes each year. You can withdraw from it anytime but you will have to pay extra taxes. For most of us, we can withdraw the SRS from age of 62 to avoid paying the extra taxes.

3. CPF Life - This is the best annuity plan currently. It will start paying out a monthly sum when you reach 65 up to your last breath. The amount of payout will depend on how much you save in the CPF RA.

4. SSB - This is perfect for those who are really scared of putting money into stocks and commercial bonds. The interest is low but is guaranteed by the government and you can withdraw the money anytime without penalty.

This is how we are are planning to utilize the above schemes to fund our retirement:

At age 58 to 61

1. Interest from CPF (OA & SA): $50k pa
2. SSB drawdown: $40k pa

Age 62 to 64

1. Interest from CPF (OA & SA): $50k pa
2. SRS drawdown: $30k pa

Age 65 to 71

1. Interest from CPF (OA & SA): $50k pa
2. SRS drawdown: $30k pa
3. CPF Life payout: $48k pa

Age 72 and beyond

1. Interest from CPF (OA & SA): $50k pa
2. CPF Life payout: $48k pa

The above will form our basic retirement funding blocks.

Any other investments income (such as dividends from stocks and rental income) that we may have will be a bonus and augment your retirement income.

One important "ingredient" to building up a solid foundation is not to retire early. Because your CPF accounts needs time to build up and for the interests to compound.

Now we look at the various income sources and differentiate them into drawdown and non-drawdown categories.

A Drawdown income source means that as you take out money to spend, you are in effect reducing the principal left behind. This means that if you have a long retirement, you will have a higher chance of using up your drawdown income source.

A non-drawdown income source is one where you can spend money without reducing the principal amount.

It is very obvious which income source is preferred. Now lets list down the various income sources and categorize them accordingly:

Drawdown income sources
1. Human capital - this is a drawdown asset. This asset brings in income as long as you can or is willing to work. Also you cannot work forever. The moment you stop working, the income from this asset stops! And this asset will eventually become a liability- when you get sick, old and aged and need medical care!

2. Savings with low interest rate. Many people put money in FDs and endowments and will be depending on them to fund their retirement. If the drawdown rate is higher than the interest rate, they will eventually use up the principal. This includes amounts in their CPF savings.

3. SRS savings - this is a drawdown income source as you are given a 10 year timeframe to drawdown the savings the moment you trigger the first drawdown.

Non-drawdown income sources (non perpetual)
1. Pension - those lucky enough to have pension (especially government pensions) will have a good source of retirement income for life. However, although pensions are non-drawdown, they are not perpetual. The moment you die, they will stop paying. You cannot bequeath your pension to your loved ones.

2. CPF Life - the next best thing to pension is the CPF Life. The payout amount is directly tied to the amount you contributed to your RA. It is designed to pay you a monthly stipend for as long as you live. Again, if live longer than 85, there is no bequest left for your loved ones. Hence this is not a perpetual non-drawdown income source.

Non-drawdown income sources (perpetual)
Perpetual non-drawdown income sources are what we should build up if we want to live a good retirement without scrimping and yet leave something behind for our loved ones.

1. Investment property - a good investment property can generate steady and good rental income to sustain our retirement while being a retainer of value. It is time tested for generations. After providing years of rental income for retirement sustenance, you can still bequeath to your loved ones when you pass on. Not only that, the property value can also grow over time!

2. Investment in stock and shares. Here I am not referring to stock trading, but investing for the long term. Investing in good blue chip stocks that give good dividends will pay for itself over the long run. You can enjoy yearly dividends and see the dividends pay for your initial investment in the stocks over time. Eventually, the stocks will become "freehold" while you continue to enjoy the dividend payout. And after all the enjoyment, you can bequeath the stocks to your loved ones for them to continue enjoying the dividends.

3. CPF savings (OA, SA & MA). You may not have thought that your CPF savings can be a perpetual non-drawdown income source. But surprise, surprise, it can be. If you have a substantial amount saved up in your CPF accounts, they can generate sufficient interests for you to tap on perpetually without reducing the principal amount.

In the above, I have listed down some examples of income sources and which category they fall in. The category of income sources that we should aim to build up is the perpetual non-drawdown type. Even if you dont have intention to bequeath anything, having perpetual non-drawdown income sources to fund your retirement will definitely give you great peace of mind to live and enjoy a good retirement.

In our retirement planning, we have 3 to 4 non-drawdown perpetual income sources (properties, stocks and shares, CPF), and 3 non-drawdown, non perpetual income sources (CPF Life and some private annuity plans) and 2 to 3 drawdown income sources (SRS, some savings eg. SSB, and FDs)

Originally Posted by Unregistered

If you are one of those who are not comfortable to invest in shares/property, the gahmen has put in place several schemes that can help you prepare for a comfortable retirement.


They are:

1. CPF - contributing regularly to your CPF accounts not only helps you build up your nest egg safely, it also allows you to save on taxes. Once you turn 55, and after you have met the Full Retirement Sum for your cohort, you can withdraw all your OA and SA money. Or you can leave the money with CPF to earn interest and just withdraw the yearly interest for spending.

2. SRS - contributing to the SRS allows you to save further on taxes each year. You can withdraw from it anytime but you will have to pay extra taxes. For most of us, we can withdraw the SRS from age of 62 to avoid paying the extra taxes.

3. CPF Life - This is the best annuity plan currently. It will start paying out a monthly sum when you reach 65 up to your last breath. The amount of payout will depend on how much you save in the CPF RA.

4. SSB - This is perfect for those who are really scared of putting money into stocks and commercial bonds. The interest is low but is guaranteed by the government and you can withdraw the money anytime without penalty.

This is how we are are planning to utilize the above schemes to fund our retirement:

At age 58 to 61

1. Interest from CPF (OA & SA): $50k pa
2. SSB drawdown: $40k pa

Age 62 to 64

1. Interest from CPF (OA & SA): $50k pa
2. SRS drawdown: $30k pa

Age 65 to 71

1. Interest from CPF (OA & SA): $50k pa
2. SRS drawdown: $30k pa
3. CPF Life payout: $48k pa

Age 72 and beyond

1. Interest from CPF (OA & SA): $50k pa
2. CPF Life payout: $48k pa

The above will form our basic retirement funding blocks.

Any other investments income (such as dividends from stocks and rental income) that we may have will be a bonus and augment your retirement income.

One important "ingredient" to building up a solid foundation is not to retire early. Because your CPF accounts needs time to build up and for the interests to compound.

Couple both 33 in finance

Cash 300k
Cpf 150k
HDB worth 500k o/s loan of 90k
Car worth 80k

Annual income of 260k combined. Save approx 100kpa

1) should we keep the HDB and buy a second property now or sell it and buy 2 private property to avoid the ABSD?
2) amidst this bullish stock market, should we still put our cash into investment?

You are both in finance. This industry can be volatile. You can be retrenched if times are bad. What if both of you got retrenched at the same time? So you need lots of cash. When times are bad all assets will crash. If you buy property and cannot rent it out and you lost your job and the value plunged and cannot sell, then you will be very worried and cannot sleep. Just stay in your hdb flat until you retire. Save lots of money to prepare for retrenchment and retirement.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Couple both 33 in finance

Cash 300k
Cpf 150k
HDB worth 500k o/s loan of 90k
Car worth 80k

Annual income of 260k combined. Save approx 100kpa

1) should we keep the HDB and buy a second property now or sell it and buy 2 private property to avoid the ABSD?
2) amidst this bullish stock market, should we still put our cash into investment?

Originally Posted by Unregistered

You are both in finance. This industry can be volatile. You can be retrenched if times are bad. What if both of you got retrenched at the same time? So you need lots of cash. When times are bad all assets will crash. If you buy property and cannot rent it out and you lost your job and the value plunged and cannot sell, then you will be very worried and cannot sleep. Just stay in your hdb flat until you retire. Save lots of money to prepare for retrenchment and retirement.

Sour grape

Buy property for own stay is ok because you need to have a roof over your head.

Buy for investment not advisable as there is an oversupply in the market.

With all the en blocs, there will be more oversupply in the future.

With less immigration and less foreign workers, there will be more supply than demand for property for you to rent. Your property can be empty for a very long time.