relaxlabrudder

When can a working married couple retire?

It depends on how much they need when they retire. If they eat at restaurants everyday, drive a luxury car, go expensive holidays, etc, they will need millions to sustain their retirement. However if they retire simply, they don’t need much.

Before they retire, they should clear their home mortgage. This is a big expense. Next, they need to get rid of their car.

Food and groceries for two persons costs $1000 pm
Utilities and wifi $300 pm
Medical insurance $1000 pm
Transport $200 pm
Holidays $200 pm
Miscellaneous $300 pm
Total $3000 pm

Total $36k per year

So if the couple has $400k cash, they can retire at 55 years old.

When they reach 65, their CPF Life will pay $4000 pm in total.

Errr you posted a question and answered it yourself?

27 this year, working at big tech as software engineer. Annual compensation around 230k. 75% cash, 25% stocks.

I almost made 500k if I joined startup instead. The stock has grown for almost 9x in last 3 years. But I decided to join big tech for stability.

I could have made 1m at a startup. But it up lorried because the founder thought he was a descendant of Sun Yat Sen :(

So shiok, what do you spend your income on? I'm same age only making half

15% for tax and cpf.

9% for food + transport + entertainment

8% for my parents (I know it is little but my parents explicitly say they don't need more from me).

I save it for the rest by buying stocks and bonds.

able to share from which company ? I also work from Big MNC but getting 150k at 5 years mark only...

Thank you for sharing. We can also retire at 55 by downgrading from a condo to a 4 room
HDB resale flat. After downgrading, we should have $500k cash to enjoy our retirement from age 55 to 65. Our CPF Life ERS is expected to give us $4500 pm ($54k pa) combined when we are 65.

Say you get covid and need to isolate at home, do you think your downgraded new HDB can stop you spreading covid to the rest of your family members? Did you actually think this through properly?

Your projections are only valid in a pre-covid era.