Good for you. Better be your own boss than to work for others, also no longer need to deal with office politics, the back stabbing and the venomous gossips and rumours.

We are still not 55 yet, so we intend to work till at least 55, and see how it goes from there.

We prefer to retire in Singapore for its dynamism, convenience, cleanliness and safety. Admittedly we have also looked at Thailand, Oz, NZ and of course M'sia as possible places to retire to. So far, S'pore still our top choice, but we have options.

We have been keeping track of developments, cost of living in the various places and cost of living in M'sia is creeping up especially JB, Malacca, KL and Penang. The locals are already complaining (see this report : When even RM12,000 a month isn?t enough to get by in Malaysia). RM12,000 pm is hardly enough for a decent lifestyle.

I always feel that for men, we need to work. Work gives us purpose in life, and defines who we are.

If you read the article carefully, it refers to a young couple with young kids and heavy commitment as they just started a family. They have kids expenses, maid's salary, house, car loan payment, etc. For you, with your RM13m, and the fact that you no longer have any commitments, your monthly expenses will be much lower. Once you pay your condo and car in full, you don't have any other loan obligations. Your expenses are food, utilities, car petrol, groceries. Not much for an old couple.

It is understandable why people don't want to quit even though they have more than enough. Most people don't have the guts to let go of power, money, ego, etc. Being retired doesn't mean you do nothing, you should volunteer your time to do lots of charity work, to feed the poor, the make a difference to the less fortunate. Enough of spending your life just for yourself and family, it is time you open your eyes, look at the world and make a difference. This is true courage.

Cost of living in Singapore is high too

2k - Car - loan installment, petrol, servicing
1k - maid
2k - overseas holiday twice to europe or US, 12k each
2k - gocery to feed 3 kids, wife, maid and dog
2k - kids enrichment classes and pocket money ( primary+secondary schooling)
1k - utilities, tel, internet subscription
1k - condo maintainance/sinking funds fees and ah-hoc house maintainance
2k - my wife pocket money ( wife not working)
1k - my own pocket money
3k - credit card bills ( dining out, buy clothes, buy gifts)
3k - income tax
1k - insurance


As you see, although earning 350k a year, i spend $250k per year, and can save $100k. My cpf is servicing a small mortgage loan left 350k. I dont have country club membership and my wife doesnt buy LV bags, so we are not living in super luxury lifestyle.
I check with my peers and their monthly spending is at least 10k for a family, so cost of living in Singapore is super high.

Your holidays quite cheap. I spend $50k per year on holidays, $25k on each trip. My family need to fly by Biz class or else our legs got cramps. No choice.

You are lucky already - no housing loan and no need to give allowance to parents.

But I think you may have double counted some items like groceries and dining out.

$2k groceries per month is steep. We have 6 mouths to feed but our groceries per month is at most $1k and another $300 on fruits. We also dine out on Sundays - about $600 pm.

You should quickly pay off your car loan and save on the interest. We did that for our 2 cars.

We leave our housing loan because the interest is only at 1.03%, lower than our stock dividend returns of 5%.

Looks like you're still a young family with kids attending enrichment classes. Don't want to frighten you but expect that cost for your children's education will only go up!

Besides the basic Uni fees, there is also exchange program costs. If study overseas, worse!

Wife not working tough, but saving of $100k is ok. We ramped our savings only when we reached late 40s. Now we are able is to save $300k pa. Not much time left as nearing retirement.

I used to be in the working class, going to work daily, rain or shine. Since day 1, I told myself I must get out of this slave position. After years of saving and investing, I am now in the capitalist class. I have a stocks portfolio worth $2m. I go to shareholder meetings and grill those overpaid managers if they don't perform. Now company bosses respect me and they now know that shareholders are the real bosses. They better buck up or pack out.

$2m spread over how many stocks? And you think you can influence decisions?

Dream on.

I will be very worried if all small investors think suddenly they can run companies / businesses. What a big joker.

With cowards like you around, it is no wonder minority shareholders get bullied all the time.

We are a middle income Singaporean family in our late forties, earning a combined income of $200k. We don't have any mortgage or car loans as we have paid up all our loans. Feels good to be debt free. Our condo is now worth $1.6m and our stocks are worth $1m. Our cash and CPF about $500k.