How much are you earning per annum?

52, trading for a living. Decided to quit my corporate job in 2013 due to the toxic work environment, dreaded going to work everyday, affected my mental and physical health badly.

Sold our condo in 2013 and moved to a 5 room hdb apartment. From the net proceeds of the sale of condo and purchase of the hdb aprtment plus my savings over the many years of working, I managed to get $1m cash. Used the cash to invest in blue chips and for trading.

Income generated from dividends and trading profits is about $80k pa. I am very happy doing my investing and trading, my mental and physical health improved significantly. Also feels good that we are debt free. My spouse, 48, earns $70k pa. Our household expenses is currently about $90k pa. Our children will soon graduate and will contribute to the home expenses when they start working.

You made the right decision to quit your previous job. No amount of money is worth our sanity and health. You are now debt free and in fact close to financial independence. If you are able to grow your portfolio to a size which generates dividend income alone which is larger than your household expenses, then you have achieved FI. It is not how much you make that matters but how much you save. Someone earning $200k pa but spends $300k pa is worse off than someone who earns $80k pa but spends $60k pa. Being debt free is great, you can sleep in peace. So, rather than buying a big landed property with mortgage of $1m, it is better for you to buy a HDB flat, paid in full. If you are a salaried employee, you can never be sure that you still have a job tomorrow hence it is wise to be debt free. If you lose your job, you don't worry about a place to call home anymore. Many youngsters today who earn a lot, more than $500k pa, are overconfident. They buy expensive landed homes costing $3m and take $2m mortgage. When they lose their job suddenly, they will be in big trouble.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

52, trading for a living. Decided to quit my corporate job in 2013 due to the toxic work environment, dreaded going to work everyday, affected my mental and physical health badly.

Sold our condo in 2013 and moved to a 5 room hdb apartment. From the net proceeds of the sale of condo and purchase of the hdb aprtment plus my savings over the many years of working, I managed to get $1m cash. Used the cash to invest in blue chips and for trading.

Income generated from dividends and trading profits is about $80k pa. I am very happy doing my investing and trading, my mental and physical health improved significantly. Also feels good that we are debt free. My spouse, 48, earns $70k pa. Our household expenses is currently about $90k pa. Our children will soon graduate and will contribute to the home expenses when they start working.

If you are now working in banks and in the oil sector, better save a lot of cash. Be prepared for retrenchments. Don't be proud if you are earning $200k pa or $300k pa or $600k pa. You are likely to be the first targets to go due to your high cost. Always be humble. Don't look down on people, especially your company clerks, pantry aunties and drivers. Get rid of your haughty ego.

How will the car market fare this weekend with the impending COE quota hike next round?

I see many car dealers giving discounts. Time for the start of COE decline?

Originally Posted by Unregistered

How will the car market fare this weekend with the impending COE quota hike next round?

I see many car dealers giving discounts. Time for the start of COE decline?

Now is the best time to change to a new car. Cat A cars would be the best value. Cat B COE price is steadily rising and Cat A COE should catch up and rise much higher in the next bidding.

While supply of COEs is rising, the demand for new cars and COEs is rising much, much more. New cars are not only more fuel efficient, equipped with new technologies, they are also status symbols in Singapore as only the more successful ones in society will own new cars.

Income from active (salary) and passive sources (interest, dividends) $180k pa in total.
Bought a new 3 bedroom condo worth $1.1m, mortgage outstanding $238k.
Bought a new 1.6L car, paid up in cash.
Daughter and son in schools.
Cash and CPF savings $360k in total.
Stocks $70k.
We are both 48 years old.
We eat at restaurants once a week.
We go overseas holidays twice a year.
We are almost debt free. Our only debt is our mortgage which is manageable.
We consider ourselves as a typical middle income Singaporean family.

Assuming your stocks give you 5% returns, that would be $3.5k pa.
Your cash (assuming in FD) and your CPF averaged 2.8% returns, that would give you around $10k from $360k.

So your income would be $180k - $3.5k - $10k = $166k pa.

I supposed that's combined salary for you and wife, then divide by 2, each of you will be earning $83k pa. Assuming 3 months bonus (including the 13th month), it means a monthly wage of just $5,533.

I would suggest that you consider cutting back on some of your expenses, especially since you are both 48 yrs old already. You don't have much time to build up your retirement fund. Some more, with your kids still schooling. It will be worse when they start Uni studies.

Some of my colleagues (all earning more than you, >$10k pm) are already struggling to fund their children's unviersity education, one after another and at the same time trying to build up their retirement savings.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Income from active (salary) and passive sources (interest, dividends) $180k pa in total.
Bought a new 3 bedroom condo worth $1.1m, mortgage outstanding $238k.
Bought a new 1.6L car, paid up in cash.
Daughter and son in schools.
Cash and CPF savings $360k in total.
Stocks $70k.
We are both 48 years old.
We eat at restaurants once a week.
We go overseas holidays twice a year.
We are almost debt free. Our only debt is our mortgage which is manageable.
We consider ourselves as a typical middle income Singaporean family.

38/36 yo with kids, wife not working now

$270K annual income from work and dividends

Home value: $1.8M net of loan

Savings: $950K in cash, stocks, unit trusts

Car: $50K net of loan

Resale value of luxury goods: $200K

Since you are the sole breadwinner, your family's household income is not diversified. If you lose your job tomorrow, you will be in deep trouble. Your income can go from $270k pa to zero.

I suggest you get rid of all your debt so in the event of a retrenchment, you are prepared and less to worry. You can sell your current landed home (I assume it is landed since it must be expensive) and get the $1.8m. Then buy in cash a HDB flat costing say $500k. You then can invest the $1.3m in 6% dividend yield stocks giving you dividends of $78k pa. You can also invest your $950k and get $57k pa in dividends. So your passive income is $135k pa. So if you lose your job tomorrow, you have passive income of $135k pa for you to feed your family. Knowing that you are financially strong, you don't have to worry about job security.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

38/36 yo with kids, wife not working now

$270K annual income from work and dividends

Home value: $1.8M net of loan

Savings: $950K in cash, stocks, unit trusts

Car: $50K net of loan

Resale value of luxury goods: $200K

29, turning 30 in 2015
6.5 years of working experience in a bank
Control Function
118K per annum