How much are you earning per annum?

Originally Posted by Unregistered

We are an average middle income PMET couple, earning only a total of $193k pa. Not much compared to those in this forum. Our residence is a two bedder condo which is worth $900k, which we have fully paid. I drive a luxury sedan. We have cash, CPF savings and stocks. Our combined net worth is only $1.5m. Btw, we are in our late forties. What's your household net worth?

We are in our early 30s. Combined net worth only at 940k as mentioned above. The guy who replied about investments during brexit is not us... We are currently at 260kpa, saving at least 100kpa.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Very good stress testing scenario!
We picked up cheap blue-chips & reits during GFC, and now enjoying good yields.
During Brexit, when pound dropped to 1.68, we bought uk building companies stock and now has doubled.
We loved crisis because we can buy cheap cheap. Being in finance industry means we can know when to go for the kill, when others are in fear, and stay cool when others are greedy

Troll spotted.


33yo couple

29, single, tech industry
262k per annum, net worth 160k cash, 120k property, 80k stocks
Rent 1900/month

1. How should I invest my money?
2. Should I buy a condo instead of renting one?

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Reality is more like this, as the children grow up, they will need more space. They are not likely to get married till they are in their late 20s or even late 30s. And some never marry. It is a fact that many adult and working children are still living with their parents.

Also being in a stable job doesn't guarantee continued employment. I have been working with the same company for over 32 years - a good example of a stable job. Yet, I have seen many colleagues leave their "stable" job. Some lucky ones leave the job for "greener" pastures, but many quit because of the stress or because of reasons beyond their control.

One moment you could be in the limelight, get good projects and attention from top management. Next moment, management team changed, and a new favorite employee takes your place and you start to fall, and then the only graceful thing to do is to leave. The job is still there and stable, but its not for you.

The secret to a secure financial future is to live within your means. Buy assets that generate income for you, instead of spending on liabilities- such as a fancy car, expensive time-share holiday chalets, big homes to stay in when a smaller would do just as well.

My wife and I do not earn good salaries as we are not in finance, but by practicing the above "tricks" diligently, my wife and I have amassed a networth of $7M+. At this point, our assets are practically self sustaining. We have been reaping and enjoying the fruits of this disciplined life when we turned 50.

Please share your "tricks" and how to let your assets self-sustain? What is your annual income?

2018 marks another milestone in our journey towards our retirement.

We have many exciting activities which we want to embark on during our retirement. These activities would be impossible for us to pursue during our working life. We want to do all these while we are still not too old.

My spouse and I will join our extended family in KL in a few years time to retire when we reach 55 years old.

In KL, we plan to rent a 2 bedroom luxury condo which will cost us RM2,000 pm. Our other expenses such as food, utilities, car, entertainment, medical, holidays, etc will be RM3,000 pm. Total cost RM5,000 pm (RM60,000 pa).

To finance our retirement in KL, we will sell our our paid up Singapore home (worth $750k) and invest in a portfolio of blue chips and REITs to give us a passive income (dividend yield of 4% pa) of SGD2,500 pm (SGD30,000 pa) or RM7,500 pm (RM90,000 pa). We can save RM2,500 pm (RM30,000 pa).

Currently, we also have SGD150,000 cash savings in the bank.

When we reach 65, we will receive passive income from our CPF Life, SGD4,000 pm (SGD48,000 pa) or RM12,000 pm (RM144,000 pa). Our total passive income will be SGD6,500 pm (SGD78,000 pa) or RM19,500 pm (RM234,000 pa). We can then go for long, expensive and relaxing holidays in Europe and around the world. Life is good if you plan your retirement well. We are lucky to have friends and an extended family in KL.

This is a brilliant plan. It shows that you do not need to have millions to retire in luxury.

You just need to own a property to sell, CPF and a brilliant mind!

Originally Posted by Unregistered

2018 marks another milestone in our journey towards our retirement.

We have many exciting activities which we want to embark on during our retirement. These activities would be impossible for us to pursue during our working life. We want to do all these while we are still not too old.

My spouse and I will join our extended family in KL in a few years time to retire when we reach 55 years old.

In KL, we plan to rent a 2 bedroom luxury condo which will cost us RM2,000 pm. Our other expenses such as food, utilities, car, entertainment, medical, holidays, etc will be RM3,000 pm. Total cost RM5,000 pm (RM60,000 pa).

To finance our retirement in KL, we will sell our our paid up Singapore home (worth $750k) and invest in a portfolio of blue chips and REITs to give us a passive income (dividend yield of 4% pa) of SGD2,500 pm (SGD30,000 pa) or RM7,500 pm (RM90,000 pa). We can save RM2,500 pm (RM30,000 pa).

Currently, we also have SGD150,000 cash savings in the bank.

When we reach 65, we will receive passive income from our CPF Life, SGD4,000 pm (SGD48,000 pa) or RM12,000 pm (RM144,000 pa). Our total passive income will be SGD6,500 pm (SGD78,000 pa) or RM19,500 pm (RM234,000 pa). We can then go for long, expensive and relaxing holidays in Europe and around the world. Life is good if you plan your retirement well. We are lucky to have friends and an extended family in KL.

What would be the ideal retirement age assuming you live until 82, our life expectancy.

We are expected to be in ill health for 8 years before we die at 82. So we might have good health up to 74, assuming we don't drink, don't smoke, don't overeat, don't womanize, not highly stressed, not overweight, have enough sleep and rest every day, exercise 3 times a week, etc.

So, if we retire at 65, then our enjoyable retirement years will only be 9 years (74-65). Is this worth it? We work hard from 6 years old in Primary 1 until 65. So we work hard for 59 years (65-6) and we only enjoy for 9 years. Not a good trade off.

We all should aspire to retire early to enjoy life before we get sick at 74 and die at 82. We should all strive to retire at 55 so that we will have 19 good years of enjoyable retirement (74-55) after 49 years of hard work (55-6). This trade off is much better.

Very sad for those who work so hard until they suddenly drop dead before they can enjoy a single day of retirement.

Those who are now already sick with hypertension, stroke, heart attack, diabetes, high cholesterol, cancer, liver and kidney diseases, STDs, etc, it is time you review your life priorities. No point for you to continue earning that extra dollar if you risk dropping dead any time. You can stop working and take care of your short remaining years. It's ok to downgrade your home and sell your car. At the end of the day, all the wealth you work so hard for are meaningless. You won't be able to bring them to your grave. Our existence on this earth is short and temporary.

I am a low income guy, when compared to the people in this forum. I earn only $40k pa and I am 49 years old. My net worth is only $700k. I have no debt.

Can I get ideas how I can earn additional income? Should I do part time work? What part time work should I do? Doing food delivery or drive private hire cars? Any good business ideas I can do part time? I don't like sales. Please advise. Thanks.

Your net worth is not bad if you have no kids (or grown up) n you are on ERS. If not you need to earn or save more by investing in safe and sustainable havens like uint trusts with 5% and above returns. But realistically, as your annual wage is on the low side, u can "earn" more if u invest some of your $700k net worth (hope they are liquid n not tied all in assets) than from doing part time which will be more to keep yourself occuppied. Say u have $500k to invest in fixed income unit trust with average 5% yield, you can expect to see $25k pa or $2k pm. You can then reduce your part time work as the pressure to earn is not there. Essentially, if u have high liquid cash, on ERS and no debt, you dont need to worry much. Rgds.

Woah it's certainly amazing how many high flyers there are in this anonymous environment.