How much are you earning per annum?

Good for you. Condo dwellers like us are thankful to people like you for not having cars.
We bought a car for our eldest son last year (our 3rd car) when he started work and we were relieved to be given the extra lot by the MCST because some of our neighbors do not own cars.

If we're staying in HDB, we will be coughing up a lot (almost $300 every month) just for car park fees alone for our 3 cars. On top of that, we will probably be assigned lots far away from where we stay.

One of the advantages of staying in a condo is that the overall maintenance fees (including sinking fund) can be lower than that of staying in HDB especially when your family has more than 1 car.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

We are a retired couple in our 60s. Now living in a nicely renovated one bedroom condo unit. Debt free. We earn $70k pa of dividends from our stocks portfolio. We are financially independent. We spend about $50k pa and reinvest our savings into more stocks. Even though we are millionaires, we chose not to buy a car as we don't travel much. We get our groceries nearby, which is just a walking distance. We don't travel overseas much nowadays as we travelled a lot with our kids in our younger years. We've been to most touristy places around the world. We enjoy sitting by our condo pool every morning, reading the newspaper and relaxing. Sometimes we work out in the gym and swim.

To be more specific, your household income is at the average graduate couple family income level.

Describing ourselves as average, or typical middle class is very common, in many countries. Many people see themselves as middle class, whether they are poor or rich. That is also not too wrong as the middle income band is very wide, which may be further divided into lower middle, middle and upper middle income.

Some sociologists tried to explain this phenomenon of people labeling themselves as middle class to the fact that people tend to stay and socialize with people of their income status. They thus see that they are no different from the others so they see themselves as the typical family. This is why the working class and upper class people also see themselves as middle class.

One other outcome of this effect is that the poor tended to under-estimate the income of the rich, while the rich tended to over-estimate the income of the poor. While sociologists do not think there is any problem for the poor to under-estimate the income of the rich, they are troubled by the rich over-estimating the income of the poor. This means that the rich do not think and feel they need to help the poor in society. They might see the poor as middle class thus not requiring of assistance.

In Singapore, I guess this phenomenon is less pronounced because we are a small city, and people here are more mobile. The poor guy living in a small rented HDB can see for himself the many landed properties and condos around him. The problem is the rich guy may not be aware of the poor guy living in a small rented HDB.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

49, $150k pa. Wife, 40, $100k pa. Two small kids. Just bought a condo, costing us $1.5m. Drives a 2 year old German car. We are the average typical Singaporean family.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

49, $150k pa. Wife, 40, $100k pa. Two small kids. Just bought a condo, costing us $1.5m. Drives a 2 year old German car. We are the average typical Singaporean family.

You are lucky. My family income is only $200k and we are in our late forties. Our combined net worth is only $2.6m. Our friends earn triple our income and has net worth of at least $6m. My family is among the lower income group in my circle of friends. Feeling depressed.

Wife and I both in 30s working class
Combined 200k pa
Live in hdb fully paid, drive 1.6L car that's 4yr old, left 10k loan
2 kids
Cash 500k
cpf OA 100k

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Wife and I both in 30s working class
Combined 200k pa
Live in hdb fully paid, drive 1.6L car that's 4yr old, left 10k loan
2 kids
Cash 500k
cpf OA 100k

You should sell your hdb flat as hdb flat prices is going down. Then you can rent a condo and wait. After 5 years, you can buy back the hdb flat very cheap.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

You are lucky. My family income is only $200k and we are in our late forties. Our combined net worth is only $2.6m. Our friends earn triple our income and has net worth of at least $6m. My family is among the lower income group in my circle of friends. Feeling depressed.

Don't be a stupid fool comparing yourself to others. Don't listen to fools who tell you to compare with others. You are very lucky, your income is among the top 15% of Spore households and your net worth is in the top 5%. To be less depressed, volunteer your time in charities that visit and feed the poor, avoid meeting your rich friends as they will always brag about their income, holidays and spendings without a care of those poor people. You will feel more thankful and contented. 80% of locals, the less well off, live in hdb flats and they are happy. I'm sure you live in a condo at least, so stop your whining.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Don't be a stupid fool comparing yourself to others. Don't listen to fools who tell you to compare with others. You are very lucky, your income is among the top 15% of Spore households and your net worth is in the top 5%. To be less depressed, volunteer your time in charities that visit and feed the poor, avoid meeting your rich friends as they will always brag about their income, holidays and spendings without a care of those poor people. You will feel more thankful and contented. 80% of locals, the less well off, live in hdb flats and they are happy. I'm sure you live in a condo at least, so stop your whining.

Well said. Some people are living in their small world

Originally Posted by Unregistered

You are lucky. My family income is only $200k and we are in our late forties. Our combined net worth is only $2.6m. Our friends earn triple our income and has net worth of at least $6m. My family is among the lower income group in my circle of friends. Feeling depressed.

are you serious? you earn 200k and feeling depressed?? thats insane. go out of your door, man!! who own 2.6 million dollars? not many people, i believe. sure if you always see the sky, there will be no end. damn, i dont even have 1/4 million dollars. i wish i HAD!!!

I thought your pay of $98k for the year was already very good, until I read that a 25 yr old girl earns $150k pa from this report: 25 years old SG woman who earns $150k pa stole from London store - AsiaOne Forum

Apparently from the comments following the report, it seems many young people are earning this amount or more.

With this kind of income nowadays, I can only imagine that property and car prices to be climbing all the time.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Hi, earned $98k this year, inclusive of all bonuses. 29yo, male with pass degree from local uni. May I know how did I fare?

Please lah you guys. Can't you tell when the bloke is being sarcastic?

He was not wrong when he said his $200k income was behind many others, but he was just rubbing it on the many that he was ahead of.

He doesn't deserve our sympathy

Originally Posted by Unregistered

are you serious? you earn 200k and feeling depressed?? thats insane. go out of your door, man!! who own 2.6 million dollars? not many people, i believe. sure if you always see the sky, there will be no end. damn, i dont even have 1/4 million dollars. i wish i HAD!!!