i earn 23000 SGD per year

You are not alone. Have a friend, 52 years old. Work as admin cum hr in jap co. Due to her inconfidence, she is drawing only 18k per YEAR. Have to pay for 5 room hdb flat as parents staying w her. Her married siblings all push the parents to her and another single sister. What a crap of ppl!!!

I used to be in the front office, earning $200K a year

Now, due to the bad market, I have moved into the back office, earning $100K a year

I am so sad, feeling depressed and ashamed of my foreinds who are still enjoying life in the front office

I feel bad, very bad. The only thing that gives me some cheer are my 3 private properties which I managed to accumulate during the good days

Life is tough

+1 for thinking his funny by being an asshole

He may sound like an asshole to you but he is indeed feeling down about his situation. There are lots of people like that in the banking / financial industry. They are not the smartest, but in their heydays managed to earn lots of money. But in this line one's shelf life is pretty short before the management realised one can be replaced with someone half the pay. At least he managed to invest in properties. Many others squandered their earnings away like there is no tomorrow.

agree. their job does not require specialisd knowledge. they depend solely on relationships and as we all know, relationships change over time and that is why their shelf life is short.

the smarter ones will know how to invest their earnings.

very much like air stewardess. there are those that I know who took up degree courses because they know that their shelf life is short. same as the football players. smart ones will start to take up coaching licenses before their playing days are over.

there are many occupations where the shelf life is short e.g. TV stars. having said that, it seems like even technical professionals/engineers these days have a shorter shelf life than before too.

Good points there, Unregistered. :)

More about shelf lives... the longer lasting are the professionals, ie. doctors, lawyers and accountants, professional engineers who can work comfortably into their 60s.

For the rest of us mere mortals, the only way to have a longer shelf life is to have a brand. The brand can be a business, a personal reputation for a certain niche sector, a popular website or blog etc. Personal branding is getting easier these days with the Internet. If you can market yourself consistently over a long period of time and not go for quick bucks, that can be your ticket to a long term stable income.

Well its that or he has horrible lack of self-awareness complaining about earning 100k after someone said he earns 25k...

I have no sympathy for u. U only bought 3 private properties when properties back then were so cheap. No foresight!

Other people can feed and bring up entire families with their 60k/yr income without whining. Go and wallow in your black hole, selfish p**.

Exactly! I guess that is why we need to continuously reinvent ourselves to extend our shelf life. It is like an old warplane. It needs to be retrofitted with the latest radar system, weapon system, etc. to extend its useful life. When it is finally overtaken by newer warplane, it will either be sold to another country, use as a training aircraft or put in the museum.