How much are you earning per annum?

Originally Posted by Unregistered

We are planning to retire by 55 if possible. Otherwise by 60. We live a simple life. We don't splurge on luxury items nor expensive meals.

We hope to spend more time together after retirement and take part in community work. Hopefully we will have a fruitful retirement.

Yes, retire by 55 if you can. Life is not all about making money. There is more to life than that. What is the point of leaving so much wealth when you die? Your children and relatives will be fighting to grab your wealth. So many cases in the news.

There are people who already have $5m when they are in their 50s but cannot let go. They want to work until they reach 65 and only to die at 70. Their $20m wealth will be fought over by their children and they will sue each other in court and appear in the news. Bring shame to the family.

Best is to give your children a good education and tell them you are not leaving them any fortune when you die. This will make them work harder to prepare for their own future and retirement.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Well done. You have profited from the government policy in the 80s and 90s.
Now it's time for you to donate some wealth back to the society as you are earning so comfortably.

Maybe start with 10% as you should donate more than ESM GOH suggest. Huat ah!

I certainly benefitted from govt policies in the 80s and 90s......

But who is this "ESM Goh" huh? Never heard of him before.... He got earn 700 million USD in 4 years??

Anyway, now I am thinking of retiring but I scared people will come and "disturb" me because of my wealth.. What's your advice?

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Pls remember to donate % of your salary to charity also.. Thats a way to repay the society.

We are already doing that. What about you?

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Yes, retire by 55 if you can. Life is not all about making money. There is more to life than that. What is the point of leaving so much wealth when you die? Your children and relatives will be fighting to grab your wealth. So many cases in the news.

There are people who already have $5m when they are in their 50s but cannot let go. They want to work until they reach 65 and only to die at 70. Their $20m wealth will be fought over by their children and they will sue each other in court and appear in the news. Bring shame to the family.

Best is to give your children a good education and tell them you are not leaving them any fortune when you die. This will make them work harder to prepare for their own future and retirement.

I totally agree with you. We taught our children to be independent and self sufficient. As we live simply, they are not aware of our finances. Both of us agree that we will support them to a tietiary education and they should then achieve their own financial independence. We will not indulge them in excesses and they must learn to work hard for what they want.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

I totally agree with you. We taught our children to be independent and self sufficient. As we live simply, they are not aware of our finances. Both of us agree that we will support them to a tietiary education and they should then achieve their own financial independence. We will not indulge them in excesses and they must learn to work hard for what they want.

That's good parenting. Spending lots of time with your children is a lot more meaningful than earning that extra dollar. Don't be like those who substitute their lack of care and attention with money and toys for their kids. These kids will grow up not having time for them when they are old. The kids will treat their parents just like how their parents treat them. Serve the the parents right.

Couple in late 40s. Household income $500k. Two teenage kids. Husband work life standard 8-5 job and goes home on time. Wife work very relax, can watch korean drama during work, knocks off at 5pm. Have a newly paid up condo and car. Total net worth $2m.

How are we doing? Can we retire by 55?

My wife and I will be 55 in a few years time. By then our children will be working and earning their own money. We are thinking of retiring at 55 as our expenses as a retired couple will not be much.

Our condo and car are paid off and we are earning a decent passive income. If our children stay with us after they are working, they will need to contribute to the family's expenses. So our share of expenses will not be high and easily covered by our passive income.

We plan to retire and lead a simple life in our condo and driving our small 1.6L car. We will spend more time in the condo gym, swimming pool and tennis court. We will also do some charity work for the needy.

We should all count our many blessings. Stop complaining this and that.

Based on the report here, all the forumers here are all RICH.

Not only that, we all get to enjoy VERY CHEAP BTO flats. Then become very rich after flipping the flats twice.

Not surprising why so many foreigners want to become Singapore citizens. They have a chance to profit from flipping BTO flats twice.


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Study finds low incomes constrain half of world

By Somini Sengupta - July 9.NEW YORK — Poverty may be down worldwide, yet that does not mean that yesterday’s poor are today’s middle class. Data analysed by the Pew Research Centre concluded that more than half of the world’s population remains “low-income”, while another 15 per cent are still what a report issued by the centre yesterday (July 8) called “poor”.

The share of the global poor, defined as those who lived on US$2 (S$2.70) a day or less, fell from 29 per cent in 2001. Most of the people in that category, though, took “only a moderate step up the income ladder”, the report concluded: 56 per cent were “low-income”, in 2011, living on US$2 to US$10 a day.

The report defined as “middle” or “upper-middle” income those who lived on US$10 to US$50 a day. Fewer than one-fourth of the world’s population met that criteria. “Even those newly minted as middle class enjoy a standard of living that is modest by Western norms,” the report said, with barely 16 per cent of the world’s population living above the official US poverty line – US$23,021 for a family of four in 2011.

The report echoed some of the findings of the final report of the Millennium Development Goals, issued by the United Nations earlier this week. It said the share of people living in dire poverty – less than US$1.25 a day – had fallen by more than half in the quarter century between 1990 and 2015. But the Pew study struck a more sober tone, signalling that those who had escaped poverty are still teetering on the edge of being poor, which is particularly striking in populous countries like India or Bangladesh that have virtually no safety net for those who suddenly fall ill or lose their jobs.

The report asserts that the US$10-a-day threshold to define a middle-class person reflects a growing consensus that only at that threshold is a person “on a firm enough footing to not worry about mere subsistence”.

The report is likely to contribute to the policy debates over income inequality, tempering as it does previous estimates, including in the McKinsey Quarterly, on the rapid rise of the global middle class.

The Pew report noted, too, that “the gap in living standards between the world’s economically advanced countries and emerging and developing nations barely narrowed in the first decade of this century.”

In 2011, 87 per cent of the world’s high-income people — defined as those who live on more than US$50 a day — lived in North America and Europe, down slightly from 91 per cent in 2001. Poor and low-income people are concentrated in South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa.

In terms of volume, the absolute number of middle-class people — those making between US$10 and US$20 a day — swelled significantly, to 784 million people in 2011, nearly twice the number from 2001.

The most visible change was in China. Its share of the global middle class quadrupled over the course of 20 years, becoming 30 per cent of all middle-income people in the world in 2011, from barely 8 per cent in 2001. People in South America also moved up the ladder. The middle-income population in Western Europe dipped, “as people moved into higher income brackets”.

The report studied 111 countries, using a combination of income and consumption data. It adjusted for purchasing power parity. THE NEW YORK TIMES

We are indeed lucky and blessed to be born in this wonderful nation. As we celebrate SG50, we must thank our pioneers and leaders for building our nation to be among the richest nations in the world. I started out living in a small flat but today I am a millionaire and retired. Thank you to all my country and community leaders and mentors. This year I celebrate my 46th birthday.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

We are indeed lucky and blessed to be born in this wonderful nation. As we celebrate SG50, we must thank our pioneers and leaders for building our nation to be among the richest nations in the world. I started out living in a small flat but today I am a millionaire and retired. Thank you to all my country and community leaders and mentors. This year I celebrate my 46th birthday.

Well done. Congratulations. You lucky couple.

Huat ah!