How much are you earning per annum?

58 & 55 year old retired couple in the Italian Mafia. Sold our marijuana plantation (fully paid) last year and bought 3 poppy plantations (fully paid) - one for my wife and I, one for my son (drug lord) and one for my daughter (pimp). Decided to hand over our gang to our kids now rather than wait till we die. Let them enjoy earlier.

Our children are so happy that they each gives us $2k pm in allowance or $48k pa. Our passive income from our drug business is $120k pa. So total passive income $168k pa. Our expenditure is $68k pa. We save $100k pa. Our investments in drugs, brothels and even trafficking children have paid off nicely.

Lower middle income family, $80k pa. 4 room hdb flat. We are both 48 yo.
No car, no maid. Holidays to Malaysia once a year. Eat at restaurants once a month. We save $20k pa. Are we doing ok?

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Lower middle income family, $80k pa. 4 room hdb flat. We are both 48 yo.
No car, no maid. Holidays to Malaysia once a year. Eat at restaurants once a month. We save $20k pa. Are we doing ok?

You are doing just fine. By the time you retire at 65, you would have paid off your mortgage. You can then rent out two of your spare rooms at $1k each and so you will earn $2k pm from room rental. You will each get your CPF Life too, $1.2k pm so you will get $2.4k pm. Your kids would also give $1k pm in total. So your grand total for passive income is $5.4k pm at least. If you invest in stocks and get $2k pm in dividends, you will get $7.4k pm in passive income. So, just relax. You will be fine as long as you do not waste money on smoking, gambling, drinking, partying, womanizing, get rich quick scams, etc. Don't forget to donate to the poor and needy. Do charity work. Don't be greedy. Be kind and compassionate.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

58 & 55 year old retired couple in the Italian Mafia. Sold our marijuana plantation (fully paid) last year and bought 3 poppy plantations (fully paid) - one for my wife and I, one for my son (drug lord) and one for my daughter (pimp). Decided to hand over our gang to our kids now rather than wait till we die. Let them enjoy earlier.

Our children are so happy that they each gives us $2k pm in allowance or $48k pa. Our passive income from our drug business is $120k pa. So total passive income $168k pa. Our expenditure is $68k pa. We save $100k pa. Our investments in drugs, brothels and even trafficking children have paid off nicely.

You are so lucky to have such a filial son. I'm a boss of the hong kong triad but my son doesn't want to take over my gang. He's going to become a nursery school teacher.

Did he also sell his Lamborghini as the same time?

Having a landed property in Singapore is the best place ways to raise a family, you can have generations under one roof (assuming the family has little conflicts). Condo's are suitable for single family nucleus to enjoy facilities together. It really depends on your abilities and priorities. I reckon the former actually fosters greater ties.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

I just read about Gurnit resigning from his full time work to do part time work so that he can spend more time with his family. This is the best news I have read for the whole year. It shows how caring and loving Gurmit is as he has to forgo lots of money and wealth. He even sold his house and moved to a 3 bedroom condo to be debt free (good move Gurmit as landed properties are way overvalued and landed prices are moving down fast).

I respect and salute Gurmit for making the right move. We live only once in this temporary dunya and our life is short. The Hereafter is permanent. We don't want to leave this world with tons of wealth but remembered as a lousy father and the father who is not there.

I was like him but made the same moves. My family and I are now very happy and contented and we have more than enough. Happiness is not about wealth, status or fame. It is about your good relationship with your One and Only Creator and with your family and those around you.

My spouse and I are middle class working professionals in our early 40s. We don't earn that much, only $180k pa combined. Our current residence is only a 3 bedroom condo, worth $1.6m. We have paid it in full. We have also sold our old car and had to use a portion of our cash savings to pay for a brand new car paid in full cash. Because of that we have to downgrade our year end holidays to an Asian country.

We hope to resume saving for the next 20 years to reach our target net worth of $3m combined before we retire. We will probably sell our 3 bedroom condo and move to a studio condo and invest our cash in dividend stocks to give us passive income. Assuming the studio condo costs $1m, we will have $2m to buy 5% dividend yield blue chips and this will give us $100k pa in dividends. Our CPF Life should give us $40k pa in total. Our kids should give us $12k pa in allowance. So in total our passive income will be $152k pa or $12.6k pm.

Sounds llike a good plan to me. However, you should ask each kid to give you and spouse $1k in total. So if you have two kids, you both will get $2k in total. They should be giving you both a good amount rather than spending on an expensive car.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

My spouse and I are middle class working professionals in our early 40s. We don't earn that much, only $180k pa combined. Our current residence is only a 3 bedroom condo, worth $1.6m. We have paid it in full. We have also sold our old car and had to use a portion of our cash savings to pay for a brand new car paid in full cash. Because of that we have to downgrade our year end holidays to an Asian country.

We hope to resume saving for the next 20 years to reach our target net worth of $3m combined before we retire. We will probably sell our 3 bedroom condo and move to a studio condo and invest our cash in dividend stocks to give us passive income. Assuming the studio condo costs $1m, we will have $2m to buy 5% dividend yield blue chips and this will give us $100k pa in dividends. Our CPF Life should give us $40k pa in total. Our kids should give us $12k pa in allowance. So in total our passive income will be $152k pa or $12.6k pm.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

My spouse and I are middle class working professionals in our early 40s. We don't earn that much, only $180k pa combined. Our current residence is only a 3 bedroom condo, worth $1.6m. We have paid it in full. We have also sold our old car and had to use a portion of our cash savings to pay for a brand new car paid in full cash. Because of that we have to downgrade our year end holidays to an Asian country.

We hope to resume saving for the next 20 years to reach our target net worth of $3m combined before we retire. We will probably sell our 3 bedroom condo and move to a studio condo and invest our cash in dividend stocks to give us passive income. Assuming the studio condo costs $1m, we will have $2m to buy 5% dividend yield blue chips and this will give us $100k pa in dividends. Our CPF Life should give us $40k pa in total. Our kids should give us $12k pa in allowance. So in total our passive income will be $152k pa or $12.6k pm.

By practising strict frugality, it is not hard to get by with $152 p.a. Cheer up!

In two weeks time, hundreds of thousands of PMEs will get their bonuses. Those whose cars are old will be rushing to buy a brand new car before the lunar new year. They are buying now before COE prices go up higher again.

With the increase in salaries across the board for most PMEs over the last 10 years, it would not be surprising that many families find cars today relatively cheaper. For instance, a car costing $100k ten years ago is relatively more expensive than a car costing $100k today. Ten years ago a $100k car may be 2x the family income of $50k pa. But today, the family's income could rise to $100k and so it is only 1x their annual income so they find a $100k car today more affordable than a $100k car ten years ago.

COE prices should reach $80k plus for both Cat A and Cat B by end of 2015 and rise further to $90k plus by end of 2016.

In 2015, 100,000 car owners will be buying new cars and in 2016, another 100,000 car owners will be buying new cars too. So demand for new cars will shoot up in 2015 and 2016. There will also be additional demand from new drivers, young rich professionals such as bankers, lawyers and doctors, new population, etc. With demand increasing higher than supply, COE prices will remain at healthy high levels. This is good as it will improve the congested roads and highways.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

In two weeks time, hundreds of thousands of PMEs will get their bonuses. Those whose cars are old will be rushing to buy a brand new car before the lunar new year. They are buying now before COE prices go up higher again.

With the increase in salaries across the board for most PMEs over the last 10 years, it would not be surprising that many families find cars today relatively cheaper. For instance, a car costing $100k ten years ago is relatively more expensive than a car costing $100k today. Ten years ago a $100k car may be 2x the family income of $50k pa. But today, the family's income could rise to $100k and so it is only 1x their annual income so they find a $100k car today more affordable than a $100k car ten years ago.

COE prices should reach $80k plus for both Cat A and Cat B by end of 2015 and rise further to $90k plus by end of 2016.

In 2015, 100,000 car owners will be buying new cars and in 2016, another 100,000 car owners will be buying new cars too. So demand for new cars will shoot up in 2015 and 2016. There will also be additional demand from new drivers, young rich professionals such as bankers, lawyers and doctors, new population, etc. With demand increasing higher than supply, COE prices will remain at healthy high levels. This is good as it will improve the congested roads and highways.

The car dealer strikes again. WHY DONT YOU GO AND START ANOTHER THREAD ON COES?