How much are you earning per annum?

Originally Posted by Unregistered

You have done pretty well for yourself. You own and LIVE in a condo. This puts you among the TOP 15% of Singaporeans. 85% of Singaporeans live in public housing. Your timing to buy in 2006 is perfect, you should consider becoming a hot shot fund manager, not many can time the market as well as you. Since your condo is now doubled in value in just 8 years, this makes your annualized return very high. YOU ARE THE MAN.

The "this puts you among the top 15%" fellow strikes again....

I know of someone who was a successful executive in an MNC. He is also a successful investor who made his millions investing his big yearly bonuses. Even though he could afford it, instead of upgrading from his condo to a bungalow, he remained in his condo till today and invested all his excess bonuses.

He retired in his late 40s whereas his colleagues who spent their bonuses partying, drinking, girls, european holidays and gambling are still slogging like dogs because they can't afford to retire. He chose to be wise with his money and now no longer a slave to any bosses or corporations. His multi million investment portfolio is enough to feed his family well. He still drives his big european car. I aspire to be like him.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

It is precisely about choice and expectation. The earlier you retire, the less you save, the fewer choices you will have and definitely you have to lower your expectation. Then it is not about not needing much but rather you can't have much.

Another important thing to remember is not to compare yourself with others especially those who have more as this will evoke feelings of jealousy and envy. Retiring with envy will not be a happy retirement.

Lol,

Aspiration without a good plan, execution of the plan (and luck) is just that - aspiration.

It is what you going to do to realise that aspiration.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

I know of someone who was a successful executive in an MNC. He is also a successful investor who made his millions investing his big yearly bonuses. Even though he could afford it, instead of upgrading from his condo to a bungalow, he remained in his condo till today and invested all his excess bonuses.

He retired in his late 40s whereas his colleagues who spent their bonuses partying, drinking, girls, european holidays and gambling are still slogging like dogs because they can't afford to retire. He chose to be wise with his money and now no longer a slave to any bosses or corporations. His multi million investment portfolio is enough to feed his family well. He still drives his big european car. I aspire to be like him.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

I know of someone who was a successful executive in an MNC. He is also a successful investor who made his millions investing his big yearly bonuses. Even though he could afford it, instead of upgrading from his condo to a bungalow, he remained in his condo till today and invested all his excess bonuses.

He retired in his late 40s whereas his colleagues who spent their bonuses partying, drinking, girls, european holidays and gambling are still slogging like dogs because they can't afford to retire. He chose to be wise with his money and now no longer a slave to any bosses or corporations. His multi million investment portfolio is enough to feed his family well. He still drives his big european car. I aspire to be like him.

To each his own. His colleagues probably enjoyed their lives much more during their prime years!!!

You aspire to be a loser? Huh??

Originally Posted by Unregistered

I know of someone who was a successful executive in an MNC. He is also a successful investor who made his millions investing his big yearly bonuses. Even though he could afford it, instead of upgrading from his condo to a bungalow, he remained in his condo till today and invested all his excess bonuses.

He retired in his late 40s whereas his colleagues who spent their bonuses partying, drinking, girls, european holidays and gambling are still slogging like dogs because they can't afford to retire. He chose to be wise with his money and now no longer a slave to any bosses or corporations. His multi million investment portfolio is enough to feed his family well. He still drives his big european car. I aspire to be like him.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

You aspire to be a loser? Huh??

Looks like you are the loser. LOL.

[ks55]

How much do you think it is enough to retire comfortably, normal living, subsistence living or mere surviving? Well, it is up to individual.
If you can afford to spend a million dollar a year, you live like a king.
If you can afford 100k a year, you live a normal life.
If you can only foot out 12k a year, you may have to work till the end of your world.
Quality of your retirement life really depends on how much you have saved, and it is not so complex as so many people think.

There is a simple way to gauge your financial standing at your retirement on how much you can afford to spend with the following assumptions:-
1. You have a mortgage free house/apartment.
2. You can generate 10% income (tax free) a year from your nest eggs.
3. Inflation is at 4% and below.
4. You are living(or surviving) with your nest eggs through your life span with adjusted inflation rate of 4%, and without eating into your nest eggs.

So, how much do you think you can spend (X) every year if you have 1 million at the beginning of your retirement?

Here is the magic formula :-

1000k = X/(0.1-0.04)
or X = 0.06 x 1000k
= 60k
i.e. You can spend up to 5k a month through life plus adjusted inflation of 4% a year.

If you have 2 million, you can spend up to 10k a month etc.

What happen if you can only generate 8% tax free income on your nest eggs?
The amount (X) you can spend will be:-
X = 0.04 x 1000k
= 40k

Your problem will be:
Can I earn 10% a year? 8% a year?
It is achievable. Please consult your financial planner.

Note: X is the amount one year after you have retired (i.e after income earned from your nest eggs)

[tnkngn]

Hello all,

new to the forum, seems like a great source of information!

Reason for joining the forum and posting in this thread is that I have a job offer on the table that would require me to relocate to Singapore.

I need a rough idea of compensation per annum for my potential new job (I believe this is the correct thread to ask this question, if not, pls let me know what other thread I should post this under, thx!).

Background information:

- 33 years old, German national, single, no kids
- been working for this stock exchange listed German engineering company for 8 years, 6 years in North America as a product manager, 2 years based in Germany as export sales manager responsible for Asian (SEA & China & Japan & Korea) market
- already familiar with local Singapore based staff and general company situation due to current job

Potential new job is MD for sales, heading the company together with MD Finance.
Singapore office is centralized office for SEA market, existing satellite offices in KL, Bangkok, Ho Chi Minh, Taipeh, Jakarta with staff between 5-10 ppl each, total shared responsibility of about 40 staff.
Mostly responsible for managing sales staff in above mentioned offices, very frequent travel (minimum 2 out of 4 weeks in a month on the road) within SEA required.

What would be an adequate salary to ask for considering above mentioned points?
If you need more information than provided above to give a suggestion, please let me know.

Thanks for any feedback!

Congratulations. Good that you have a job offer in Singapore. We need more FTs to work in Singapore in order to rent our empty condos. Pls invite more of your high calibre friends to work here. We have too many empty condo to fill.

Here are some guide on the cost of living:

1. Rental of 1 bedroom condo unit, $2800 pm (e.g. in Lakefront Residences next to the Lakeside MRT station). My advice is to avoid the city condos as they are too expensive. Waste of money.

2. Car costs $120k brand new. Running cost, $1500 pm. So, don't buy a car. Stay in a condo next to an MRT station. Transport by MRT and bus, $100 pm.

3. Food & utilities, $2000 pm.

4. Holidays to nearby resorts, $5000 pa.

5. Others, $1000 pm.

Total expenses, $75,800 pa. Savings target, $30,000 pa.

So, ask for $120,000 at least. You need to put aside for income tax as well.

Originally Posted by tnkngn

Hello all,

new to the forum, seems like a great source of information!

Reason for joining the forum and posting in this thread is that I have a job offer on the table that would require me to relocate to Singapore.

I need a rough idea of compensation per annum for my potential new job (I believe this is the correct thread to ask this question, if not, pls let me know what other thread I should post this under, thx!).

Background information:

- 33 years old, German national, single, no kids
- been working for this stock exchange listed German engineering company for 8 years, 6 years in North America as a product manager, 2 years based in Germany as export sales manager responsible for Asian (SEA & China & Japan & Korea) market
- already familiar with local Singapore based staff and general company situation due to current job

Potential new job is MD for sales, heading the company together with MD Finance.
Singapore office is centralized office for SEA market, existing satellite offices in KL, Bangkok, Ho Chi Minh, Taipeh, Jakarta with staff between 5-10 ppl each, total shared responsibility of about 40 staff.
Mostly responsible for managing sales staff in above mentioned offices, very frequent travel (minimum 2 out of 4 weeks in a month on the road) within SEA required.

What would be an adequate salary to ask for considering above mentioned points?
If you need more information than provided above to give a suggestion, please let me know.

Thanks for any feedback!

My wife and I are both 55 this year and we have both met the $155k CPF min sum. Our retirement plan when we reach 65 is to (1) receive the monthly payout of $1200 for each of us, hence we get $2400 per month as a couple; (2) we rent out the whole unit of our 5 room HDB flat for $3,000 per month.

In total, we will get $5,400 per month. We will then convert to RM and get RM14,000 per month. We will rent a one bedder condo unit in KL for RM1,000 per month and spend RM5,000 per month for food, water, electric, car, holidays, etc. We will save RM8,000 per month. We have many relatives and friends in KL.

Originally Posted by ks55

How much do you think it is enough to retire comfortably, normal living, subsistence living or mere surviving? Well, it is up to individual.
If you can afford to spend a million dollar a year, you live like a king.
If you can afford 100k a year, you live a normal life.
If you can only foot out 12k a year, you may have to work till the end of your world.
Quality of your retirement life really depends on how much you have saved, and it is not so complex as so many people think.

There is a simple way to gauge your financial standing at your retirement on how much you can afford to spend with the following assumptions:-
1. You have a mortgage free house/apartment.
2. You can generate 10% income (tax free) a year from your nest eggs.
3. Inflation is at 4% and below.
4. You are living(or surviving) with your nest eggs through your life span with adjusted inflation rate of 4%, and without eating into your nest eggs.

So, how much do you think you can spend (X) every year if you have 1 million at the beginning of your retirement?

Here is the magic formula :-

1000k = X/(0.1-0.04)
or X = 0.06 x 1000k
= 60k
i.e. You can spend up to 5k a month through life plus adjusted inflation of 4% a year.

If you have 2 million, you can spend up to 10k a month etc.

What happen if you can only generate 8% tax free income on your nest eggs?
The amount (X) you can spend will be:-
X = 0.04 x 1000k
= 40k

Your problem will be:
Can I earn 10% a year? 8% a year?
It is achievable. Please consult your financial planner.

Note: X is the amount one year after you have retired (i.e after income earned from your nest eggs)