How much are you earning per annum?

48, sole breadwinner, $120k pa. Saves $30k pa. Lives in a condominium unit worth $1.3m, no more loan. CPF, cash and stocks, $500k. When I retire, my wife and I will move to a 4 room HDB flat (must be less than 10 years old) and use the balance of cash for our retirement spending. We will also get cash from my CPF retirement account and maybe a small token from our daughter.

40 and 42, combined income $130k pa. Home is a 5 room HDB flat. We are happy staying here and have paid up the mortgage. We can now save more for our retirement. Our cash and CPF in total now is only $300k in total. Our total net worth now, including our flat, is only about $1m. We will sell our car when our kids complete their secondary education (they will be more independent to travel by themselves) so that we can save $60k pa. So, over 20 years, we can save an additional $1.2m cash. We hope to retire at 60, with cash of $1.3m at least.

Middle aged, middle income Singaporean couple, $200k pa.
Accommodation: Condo
Transport: Car
Years to retirement: 10
Net worth: $2m

Upon retirement, will sell condo to buy studio unit condo
Invest cash in dividend stocks, yield 4%
Expenses during retirement will be lower because 1) we will not own a car (will find a condo next to an MRT station), 2) no longer supporting kids and parents, 3) no more loans, 4) less desire for branded goods, 5) cook simple but healthy meals

Our retirement plan is to read books, exercise in gym, swim and cycling. Also will help out in charitable organizations.

This website is really an eye-opener to me. I didn't know that there are so many Singaporean families earning so much. My case is more humbling. I am a grad while my wife is a diploma holder. Our total income is only $150k pa combined. We live in a humble 4 room HDB flat with our two children. Since we bought it direct from HDB many years ago, we have cleared the mortgage. We own a small old Jap car, the COE is ending soon. We will not buy a car any more. Our total CPF and cash savings is only $400k. While we are comfortable with our lives as Singapore is a nice place to live - we have good food, clean air and water, safe environment, good shopping offerings, etc - we wonder how are we going to retire. Some of my friends are planning to buy the studio HDB unit and sell their bigger HDB flats. I think we may do the same. We will then retire on the cash from the sale of our 4 room flat and our savings. If you are like me, can you share your retirement plans? How are you financing your retirement?

Those posts you read here represented the minority. The majority is more like your case, after all 80% of the population stays in HDB flats. There are of course millionaires staying in HDB flats too!

You didnt say how old you and your wife are, but no matter, it is important to start thinking and planning for retirement. The earlier you start the process, the more time you have to build up the necessary finance.

For example, if you estimate that you would need $50k pa (or about $4k pm) for the 2 of you in your retirement years, and you expect to live 25 years in retirement, you will already need $1.25m without considering the deleterious effect of inflation.

Add some buffer to that sum for unplanned expenses such as medical emergencies and household repairs, appliances replacement and inflation, that sum could easily add up to $2m.

Perhaps you realize now why many are talking about downgrading or moving to lower cost countries when they retire. Our gahmen is more than keenly aware of the situation, and their solution is tell the people to work as long as you can.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

This website is really an eye-opener to me. I didn't know that there are so many Singaporean families earning so much. My case is more humbling. I am a grad while my wife is a diploma holder. Our total income is only $150k pa combined. We live in a humble 4 room HDB flat with our two children. Since we bought it direct from HDB many years ago, we have cleared the mortgage. We own a small old Jap car, the COE is ending soon. We will not buy a car any more. Our total CPF and cash savings is only $400k. While we are comfortable with our lives as Singapore is a nice place to live - we have good food, clean air and water, safe environment, good shopping offerings, etc - we wonder how are we going to retire. Some of my friends are planning to buy the studio HDB unit and sell their bigger HDB flats. I think we may do the same. We will then retire on the cash from the sale of our 4 room flat and our savings. If you are like me, can you share your retirement plans? How are you financing your retirement?

Selling your 4 room flat and buying a HDB studio unit makes sense as there will only be the two of you since your kids would have grown up and married. You should get about $1k pm each from both your CPF retirement account, when you reach 65. So, if you need $4k pm to retire, you just need $600k cash (assuming to last 25 years). So, after selling your 4 room flat and buying your studio unit, you would have some cash, say $300k. You will just need savings of another $300k cash to prepare for your retirement. Your kids may give you both say $1k in total, so you actually will have $5k pm for your retirement. Alternatively, you can retire in Thailand, where you just need $1k - 2k pm to retire comfortably.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

This website is really an eye-opener to me. I didn't know that there are so many Singaporean families earning so much. My case is more humbling. I am a grad while my wife is a diploma holder. Our total income is only $150k pa combined. We live in a humble 4 room HDB flat with our two children. Since we bought it direct from HDB many years ago, we have cleared the mortgage. We own a small old Jap car, the COE is ending soon. We will not buy a car any more. Our total CPF and cash savings is only $400k. While we are comfortable with our lives as Singapore is a nice place to live - we have good food, clean air and water, safe environment, good shopping offerings, etc - we wonder how are we going to retire. Some of my friends are planning to buy the studio HDB unit and sell their bigger HDB flats. I think we may do the same. We will then retire on the cash from the sale of our 4 room flat and our savings. If you are like me, can you share your retirement plans? How are you financing your retirement?

Originally Posted by Unregistered

A good advisor should be able to achieve 6 - 8 % pa return with moderate risk.

All these so-called expert advisors are NOT responsible when they help you lose your money.

It's so easy to just claim they can replicate past returns, or to match or surpass some benchmarks. It's another matter if they ever place their own money where their mouth is. Try listening to their barrage of excuses when they lose money for you and yet still collect their hefty fees.

If 6-8% is easy, GIC should just let these "good" advisors handle the national reserves, instead of hiring a huge team of scholars achieving a lackluster 4% over 20 years, a figure published in its website:

"In its annual report for 2012/2013, GIC reported 5, 10 and 20-year annualised nominal returns in USD terms of 2.6%, 8.8% and 6.5% respectively. It also reported a 20-year real rate of return of 4.0%."

Depending on your children? Not a good idea.

Are you currently supporting your parents? If you are, you should know it is how tough it can get to bring up a family and yet supporting your aged parents.

We should therefore not place more burden on our children who will find it tougher to get good jobs in a globalised world competing with millions of eager and "hungry" workers.

We should live within our means, save and invest for our retirement. Our parents didn't do it because they were not earning enough to feed their families let alone save for retirement. Their education level also not high. We should strive to do better for our children. And that is to give them a good foundation in life through a good education and be financially independent on them when we retire.

My ideal target is to save enough such that I would be in a position to help my children out financially in times of need, rather than the other way round.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

48, sole breadwinner, $120k pa. Saves $30k pa. Lives in a condominium unit worth $1.3m, no more loan. CPF, cash and stocks, $500k. When I retire, my wife and I will move to a 4 room HDB flat (must be less than 10 years old) and use the balance of cash for our retirement spending. We will also get cash from my CPF retirement account and maybe a small token from our daughter.

We are in our late forties. Thanks for sharing with us that we are not alone. As you mentioned, 80% of Singaporeans are in the same boat. Selling our 4 room flat and buying the hdb studio flat would be what we would do if we want to retire in Singapore. But we need to have at least $1m in cash for our retirement spending (besides the payout from our retirement account).

Another idea is to rent out the whole of our 4 room flat to get a monthly rental income of $3k per month while we retire in Thailand. Someone here mentioned you can retire in Chiang Mai comfortably with only $1k per month. This means we get to live in a big house, enjoy good food and save $2k per month. With this savings, we can even help our kids to pay for the downpayment of their BTO flats. We can also spend time travelling other parts of beautiful Thailand, such as Krabi, Koh Samui, etc. Maybe we can even set up a small business in Chiang Mai.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Those posts you read here represented the minority. The majority is more like your case, after all 80% of the population stays in HDB flats. There are of course millionaires staying in HDB flats too!

You didnt say how old you and your wife are, but no matter, it is important to start thinking and planning for retirement. The earlier you start the process, the more time you have to build up the necessary finance.

For example, if you estimate that you would need $50k pa (or about $4k pm) for the 2 of you in your retirement years, and you expect to live 25 years in retirement, you will already need $1.25m without considering the deleterious effect of inflation.

Add some buffer to that sum for unplanned expenses such as medical emergencies and household repairs, appliances replacement and inflation, that sum could easily add up to $2m.

Perhaps you realize now why many are talking about downgrading or moving to lower cost countries when they retire. Our gahmen is more than keenly aware of the situation, and their solution is tell the people to work as long as you can.

Well good luck to you on your plans to live elsewhere.

I know that if you dont speak Thai, you will not find living there easy let alone do a business. Do a thorough study on the culture, safety, convenience, cost of living etc.. , Dont forget, when you are older, your energy level is also lower. So convenience to amenities becomes very important. And living near cities will not be cheaper.

So, many retirees still stay in Singapore for the above reasons. There is indeed no place like home - where your family and friends are.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

We are in our late forties. Thanks for sharing with us that we are not alone. As you mentioned, 80% of Singaporeans are in the same boat. Selling our 4 room flat and buying the hdb studio flat would be what we would do if we want to retire in Singapore. But we need to have at least $1m in cash for our retirement spending (besides the payout from our retirement account).

Another idea is to rent out the whole of our 4 room flat to get a monthly rental income of $3k per month while we retire in Thailand. Someone here mentioned you can retire in Chiang Mai comfortably with only $1k per month. This means we get to live in a big house, enjoy good food and save $2k per month. With this savings, we can even help our kids to pay for the downpayment of their BTO flats. We can also spend time travelling other parts of beautiful Thailand, such as Krabi, Koh Samui, etc. Maybe we can even set up a small business in Chiang Mai.