How much are you earning per annum?

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Shame on you. Cannot stand on your own and bring in an Ang Moh to validate yourself. The so-called Frenchie probably would have chosen a condo or landed property to stay in if he could afford it.

Having said that, I love my HDB flat too. I do not need to say so and so is my neighbor.

Madness....What is there so shameful to say foreigner loves our HDB? Nobody mention they are more superior.... crazy...

Originally Posted by Unregistered

43 / 45, combined income $191k pa.
Home is a condo, worth $1.1m, loan left $250k.
Car, paid up. Savings, $30k pa.
Total net worth, $1.4m (millionaire couple).

Main expenses include mortgage, food and utilities, chidlren's tuition, parents' allowances, insurance, maid, holidays, etc.

We are just middle income Singaporeans who are contented with what we have.

When we retire at 65, we will sell our condo and downgrade to a HDB studio flat for the elderly ($70k only) and use the cash balance to invest in blue chips to give us passive dividend income. We will also get our monthly income from CPF Life. This should be enough, and I don't have to drive a taxi.

Anything wrong driving a taxi?

I was a corporate high earner who worked very hard, day and night for more than 30 years. Due to the long hours and frequent travel, I got burnt out. Last year, at the age of 55, I decided to retire for good to take care of my health and spend more time with my family. I paid off the mortgage to my condo and car and am now totally debt free. Over the years, I also invested my hard earned bonuses and now receive passive dividend income of $90k pa from my investments. My wife, 45, is still pursuing her career and earns $120k pa. We share equally our household expenses of $100k pa and save the rest.

Today, I am a much healthier and fitter person. With regular exercise and good eating habits, I look much younger now. I look forward to do more charity work in years to come to help the poor and needy. As I reflect upon life, I realize money is not everything. Money and status will not buy you true happiness as all these will eventually be gone. What is permanent is your love and care for your family and the less fortunate among us in society.

Very true, but only when you have the basic needs fulfilled.

A few years ago when we hit 50, a few colleagues and I were pondering retirement or changing to a less demanding job. We had no more housing nor car loans but some of us still have young children. In fact, all of our children were still school going - from secondary to Uni.

4 of my colleagues eventually took the plunge and quit. Their wives who were younger are working so they have "backup" in terms of income. Fast forward 5 years, now all 4 are back to work. One selling insurance, one trying out as a stock broker and one giving part time lecturing at a private education centre and one a property agent.

I didnt have the chance to talk to them about the reasons for coming back into the workforce, but I am guessing boredom is one and at worse the realisation that their savings might not be adequate to sustain their retirement especially when their children hit Uni age. One of them said his son going to a US Uni, that will cost him $50K a year.

And what about me? I stayed and slogged in my job. For the past 5 years, I have managed to save enough money to last a further 15 years of life in retirement. In other words, for each year of work, I could save enough for 3 years expenses. Looking forward, if I stay in my job till 60, (another 5 years) I will be more than settled for my retirement.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

I was a corporate high earner who worked very hard, day and night for more than 30 years. Due to the long hours and frequent travel, I got burnt out. Last year, at the age of 55, I decided to retire for good to take care of my health and spend more time with my family. I paid off the mortgage to my condo and car and am now totally debt free. Over the years, I also invested my hard earned bonuses and now receive passive dividend income of $90k pa from my investments. My wife, 45, is still pursuing her career and earns $120k pa. We share equally our household expenses of $100k pa and save the rest.

Today, I am a much healthier and fitter person. With regular exercise and good eating habits, I look much younger now. I look forward to do more charity work in years to come to help the poor and needy. As I reflect upon life, I realize money is not everything. Money and status will not buy you true happiness as all these will eventually be gone. What is permanent is your love and care for your family and the less fortunate among us in society.

45, semi retired.
Passive income, $200k pa.

Good for you. Live life to the fullest. There are people who suddenly they die at 55. Their children and wife then fought over their wealth. So sad.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

I was a corporate high earner who worked very hard, day and night for more than 30 years. Due to the long hours and frequent travel, I got burnt out. Last year, at the age of 55, I decided to retire for good to take care of my health and spend more time with my family. I paid off the mortgage to my condo and car and am now totally debt free. Over the years, I also invested my hard earned bonuses and now receive passive dividend income of $90k pa from my investments. My wife, 45, is still pursuing her career and earns $120k pa. We share equally our household expenses of $100k pa and save the rest.

Today, I am a much healthier and fitter person. With regular exercise and good eating habits, I look much younger now. I look forward to do more charity work in years to come to help the poor and needy. As I reflect upon life, I realize money is not everything. Money and status will not buy you true happiness as all these will eventually be gone. What is permanent is your love and care for your family and the less fortunate among us in society.

we are a low income couple, early 40s, earning a total salary of only 90k pa.
we live in a four room flat, now worth 400k, fully paid.
we will be retiring in thailand, we plan to sell our flat and buy a condo in thailand.
some people say you only need 1k pm for a retired couple to retire in chiang mai.
we look forward to that.

Yes that is sad. But that is nothing compared to the suffering inflicted on the wife and children when irresponsible husbands decided to live life to the fullest, fool around and not worked hard to earn and provide for their families.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Good for you. Live life to the fullest. There are people who suddenly they die at 55. Their children and wife then fought over their wealth. So sad.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Yes that is sad. But that is nothing compared to the suffering inflicted on the wife and children when irresponsible husbands decided to live life to the fullest, fool around and not worked hard to earn and provide for their families.

Read the post carefully. The guy said he is sick and even though he is not working, he still generates $90k pa, which he has responsibly provided for the family. You want him to work to his death is it?

You are being responsible for quitting before it is too late. You do not want to be found dead at your desk due to extreme burn out. I believe your family love you more than anything else. No money in this world is worth more than a father's presence in a loving family. Anyway, your passive income is more than enough to feed your family. Also, you have given your family a condo to live in, they should count themselves lucky as only the top 15% of Singaporeans love in condos and landed. The rest 85% stays in public housing.

Don't listen to some stupid people in this forum who like to make stupid insensitive remarks. These are just trolls.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

I was a corporate high earner who worked very hard, day and night for more than 30 years. Due to the long hours and frequent travel, I got burnt out. Last year, at the age of 55, I decided to retire for good to take care of my health and spend more time with my family. I paid off the mortgage to my condo and car and am now totally debt free. Over the years, I also invested my hard earned bonuses and now receive passive dividend income of $90k pa from my investments. My wife, 45, is still pursuing her career and earns $120k pa. We share equally our household expenses of $100k pa and save the rest.

Today, I am a much healthier and fitter person. With regular exercise and good eating habits, I look much younger now. I look forward to do more charity work in years to come to help the poor and needy. As I reflect upon life, I realize money is not everything. Money and status will not buy you true happiness as all these will eventually be gone. What is permanent is your love and care for your family and the less fortunate among us in society.