How much are you earning per annum?

You don't need to worry. Let's assume by the time you are 65, you have paid off your mortgage. And you would have saved $510k over 17 years. You can then sell your condo and downgrade to a studio condo and you would have cash balance of at least $500k. So, in total, you have $1m to invest in dividend stocks giving 5% yield or $50k pa or $4,166 pm. Your CPF Life will give you say $1,500 pm for each of you so your combined CPF Life will give you $3k pm. In total, your passive income will be $7,166 pm. If your kids give you $1k each, if you have two kids, you will get $2k pm. So, your cash flow per month will be $9,166 or $110k pa. Huge amount for retirement.

Lessons learnt:
1. Your property is your greatest retirement asset.
2. Your kids are also your assets. Marry and have kids.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Couple working in the commercial sector, 48/42. Total income, $195k pa. Savings, $30k pa. Bought a condo now worth $1.2m. Mortgage outstanding, $700k. Owns a 2.4L continental car, no loan. Children are in primary school. We live a modest middle class lifestyle. Holidays to Asian countries, twice a year. Total net worth, $1.3m.

Any comments whether we can retire at 65? How much is enough? How much do we need every month as retirement income in 20 years time?

This kind of question is best answered by yourself. Even if you approach professional financial advisors, they will provide you leading questions to help you establish your envisaged retirement lifestyle, and from there, to work out the funds needed to sustain the lifestyle.

If you can tolerate living like a hermit and prepared to downgrade, you will obviously not need much. If you see yourself still owning a car, have expensive hobbies and enjoy good food at restaurants then you will obviously need more. This is the demand part of the consideration.

The other part of the consideration is how able are you to generate the income and funds to sustain the lifestyle you want. For example, does your job have longevity? Can you see yourself working at your current job/company till 65? Will you be able to increase your savings? Typically, expenses will increase as your children grow up, peaking when they enter Uni. The local uni fees can vary from $8k pa to over $20k pa. Then the pocket money you give your children will be higher. It is not uncommon to see parents giving their children in the uni/poly at least $100 per week.

Luckily for us we are past that stage. Our 2 kids have graduated and one has already started working. But we still remember the cost of supporting both of them through uni. We are lucky that they were good enough to qualify for NUS, if overseas, the funds needed would certainly delay our retirement by 2 to 3 years! Though they studied at NUS, there is the exchange program to pay for. It can easily set you back $8-$10k to sponsor them for 6 months overseas stint.

At the end of the day, no income no talk. Make sure you are not out work for any period of time, as this will greatly impact your retirement fund build up.

I would like to suggest that you go read the plight of one PMET who was earning $15k a month, but was retrenched and now considering selling his home and declaring bankruptcy. ://.transitioning.org/2014/12/30/local-pmet-used-to-earn-15000month-now-struggling-as-a-cab-driver-and-selling-5-room-flat-to-settle-debts/

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Couple working in the commercial sector, 48/42. Total income, $195k pa. Savings, $30k pa. Bought a condo now worth $1.2m. Mortgage outstanding, $700k. Owns a 2.4L continental car, no loan. Children are in primary school. We live a modest middle class lifestyle. Holidays to Asian countries, twice a year. Total net worth, $1.3m.

Any comments whether we can retire at 65? How much is enough? How much do we need every month as retirement income in 20 years time?

Hi All,

Quick question, can anyone please advise what should be the annual package (basic plus all bonuses) for a guy with seven years of experience in accounting if he holds 1) senior accountant or 2) finance manager position in a mid size MNC?


Thank you.

Happy new year everyone!

I'm 47, my wife is 40. I earn $5k pm and my wife earns $4k pm. We are happy to live in our new EC. Now it is worth $700k. We sold our flat and upgraded to the EC. We still have mortgage loan of $300k. We aim to clear our mortgage in 15 years time.

We enjoy living in our EC as we feel safer and love the pool and gym. We also feel a sense of prestige living in our EC.

We are lucky to sell our flat at a good price and because we bought it cheap, we make a lot of profit. That is why we can afford to upgrade to an EC. We hope our EC will go up in value so that we can sell it when we retire and make money again.

Condos and EC living is very different from living in HDB. It is one big reason why many people aspire to live condo/EC.

I upgraded to condo living at 48 yo, and quickly found out what I was missing all the years that I was staying in HDB. I thought my life was already good while staying in an exec flat. Staying in a condo brings up our quality of life to another level altogether. My children used to ask us to bring them out for swimming, or to let go to their friends' condo for swimming, etc.. Now their friends come over for swimming and barbecue. As we play tennis regularly we used to go where the public tennis courts are available. It was inconvenient to book, and there was no guarantee we could secure a court every week. What's worse was the unpredictable weather. But now, we play every week in the comfort of our condo. When it rains, there's no pain.

The other privilege is the car park. Unlike HDB, where the car park is quite a walk away, the condo car park is right below our unit. Some more we can have 2 car park lots. I remembered for HDB, we had to ballot every month for our 2nd car, and the lot given was a few blocks away. So inconvenient and troublesome.

It is just so wonderful staying in a condo. That's why I also worry when I retire, can I accept downgrading to HDB.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Happy new year everyone!

I'm 47, my wife is 40. I earn $5k pm and my wife earns $4k pm. We are happy to live in our new EC. Now it is worth $700k. We sold our flat and upgraded to the EC. We still have mortgage loan of $300k. We aim to clear our mortgage in 15 years time.

We enjoy living in our EC as we feel safer and love the pool and gym. We also feel a sense of prestige living in our EC.

We are lucky to sell our flat at a good price and because we bought it cheap, we make a lot of profit. That is why we can afford to upgrade to an EC. We hope our EC will go up in value so that we can sell it when we retire and make money again.

Heard from friends staying in condos that the overall conservancy cost is actually lower than the cost for staying in HDB.

Can anyone help to clarify:

Condo vs HDB 5 room / exec flat:

Condo - conservancy $330 per month (include up to 2 car park lots)

5rm / exec flat - $75 - $88.50 per month
1st car (covered lot) - $90 per month
2nd car (ballot / covered lot) -- $140 - $160 per month

Total for HDB household with 2 cars - $305 - $338.5

It is definitely better to stay in condo in the case of family with 2 cars, some more got all the facilities thrown in.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Condos and EC living is very different from living in HDB. It is one big reason why many people aspire to live condo/EC.

I upgraded to condo living at 48 yo, and quickly found out what I was missing all the years that I was staying in HDB. I thought my life was already good while staying in an exec flat. Staying in a condo brings up our quality of life to another level altogether. My children used to ask us to bring them out for swimming, or to let go to their friends' condo for swimming, etc.. Now their friends come over for swimming and barbecue. As we play tennis regularly we used to go where the public tennis courts are available. It was inconvenient to book, and there was no guarantee we could secure a court every week. What's worse was the unpredictable weather. But now, we play every week in the comfort of our condo. When it rains, there's no pain.

The other privilege is the car park. Unlike HDB, where the car park is quite a walk away, the condo car park is right below our unit. Some more we can have 2 car park lots. I remembered for HDB, we had to ballot every month for our 2nd car, and the lot given was a few blocks away. So inconvenient and troublesome.

It is just so wonderful staying in a condo. That's why I also worry when I retire, can I accept downgrading to HDB.

My family and I moved from our landed home last year to a condo to take advantage of our landed property price. Our landed property price rose too much and we decided to take profit and so we make a ton of money. After that we moved to a new condo and paid for it in cash. We really enjoy staying in a condo because of the beautiful landscaping and the amenities.

We realized that living in our landed home had a few disadvantages: (1) many cars parking at the road side creating a congested space and an eye sore (2) neighbors looking into your home from their balconies (3) people looking into your homes when they walk pass by (4) costly maintenance (5) high utilities bills (6) dogs barking (7) no security (8) salesmen and property agents knocking on your door. The only good thing about landed property living is the space inside.

When my wife and I retire, we plan to retire in a condo because we love condo living. We rather downgrade to a small studio condo unit than moving to a bigger HDB flat. The downgrade then allows us to get cash for us to invest in the stock market for dividends. For instance, if we sell our condo at $1.8m, we then buy a studio condo unit for $800k, we will have $1m cash to buy dividend stocks which can give us dividends.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Condos and EC living is very different from living in HDB. It is one big reason why many people aspire to live condo/EC.

I upgraded to condo living at 48 yo, and quickly found out what I was missing all the years that I was staying in HDB. I thought my life was already good while staying in an exec flat. Staying in a condo brings up our quality of life to another level altogether. My children used to ask us to bring them out for swimming, or to let go to their friends' condo for swimming, etc.. Now their friends come over for swimming and barbecue. As we play tennis regularly we used to go where the public tennis courts are available. It was inconvenient to book, and there was no guarantee we could secure a court every week. What's worse was the unpredictable weather. But now, we play every week in the comfort of our condo. When it rains, there's no pain.

The other privilege is the car park. Unlike HDB, where the car park is quite a walk away, the condo car park is right below our unit. Some more we can have 2 car park lots. I remembered for HDB, we had to ballot every month for our 2nd car, and the lot given was a few blocks away. So inconvenient and troublesome.

It is just so wonderful staying in a condo. That's why I also worry when I retire, can I accept downgrading to HDB.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Hi All,

Quick question, can anyone please advise what should be the annual package (basic plus all bonuses) for a guy with seven years of experience in accounting if he holds 1) senior accountant or 2) finance manager position in a mid size MNC?


Thank you.

$4k pm inclusive of bonus would be good as it would make you competitive in the market place I believe.

Happy new year everyone!
This week is the first COE bidding of the new year.
Any ideas on how it is going to fare to start off 2015?
Chances of dropping in view of the election year?

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Happy new year everyone!
This week is the first COE bidding of the new year.
Any ideas on how it is going to fare to start off 2015?
Chances of dropping in view of the election year?

Up for sure. It is now cheaper to own and use a car than taking a taxi due to the low oil prices. Also it is more convenient owning a car than taking the taxi as it is very difficult to get a taxi during peak hours. With the CNY coming, demand for new cars will rise significantly.