window of opportunity
 

People, I hope you guys have managed to grab some good stocks during the last few days with stock prices plummeting to very low levels. They are now on the recovery but there are still some cheap pickings.

Over the last few days, I have managed to add to my holdings to increase my passive income for my retirement. I picked up some lots of SGX, OCBC, Keppel Corp, and some reits.

These should add another $2K - $2.5K of dividends pa to my passive income.

Was limited by my resources and the short window of opportunity to pick more. Sigh.

More than 30 years ago, I lived in a small 3 room HDB flat together with 5 other people. I shared a room with my siblings and grandmother. Life was not so easy. My parents worked hard to bring us up. I realised how much they love us and I was determined to work hard in my studies. While many of my classmates played after school, I was studying. I did well in my studies and went to good secondary school, JC and local university. I got good jobs and was among the top performers in my industry. I did so well that I can now retire as a millionaire at the age of 46. I now spend my time managing and growing my fortune and giving back to society through charitable social work.

I am indeed grateful to our system and government for enabling me move up the social ladder. I started life in a lower middle income household and now I am among the top. Our system enables hard working and talented individuals move up the social ladder. From living in a small flat, I am now living in a luxurious condominium. I don't think I can achieve this far had I been born in another country. Thanks a million to my parents, my teachers, my mentors, my bosses, my country leaders and everyone who helped me achieve what I have today.

How would you live differently if ....
 

Read a few posts on the other forum page on "how much do you need to earn before buying a car?" and it set me thinking. How much is your lifestyle influenced by your income? Would you live your life differently if your household income was $100k, $200k, or $500k pa etc?

Someone calculated that to own a compact jap car in Singapore, one must earn about $5k pm. Another poster recommended that it is better to have $150k pa HH income before considering car ownership, otherwise it would be stretching your finances too thin.

Looking at my own case, I think of course, our HH income does influence our lifestyle but only up to a certain point.

For example, when we first got married and our HH income was less than $100k pa, we didn't have a car. We bought our first car (2nd hand) when our HH income crossed $100k pa about 2 years after our marriage.

We upgraded to a condo and bought ourselves a car each when our HH income reached $200k pa. We were then in our late 30s / early 40s. We always buy jap cars for their reliability and affordability.

When our HH income hit $300k pa, we bought bigger jap cars - a 1.6 ltr car and a 2 ltr car. Previously we were driving 1.3 ltr and 1.5 ltr cars. We see our household expenses stabilizing at around $100k - $120k pa.

Now that our HH income has risen to $500k pa (including passive income), we are still driving the 2 jap cars and our HH expenses still hover between the $100k - $120k pa range, which is fully covered by our passive income. Our lifestyle has not changed which allowed us to accelerate our retirement saving rate.

We are happy with the lifestyle supported by the $100k - $120k pa and see no need to splurge on conti cars or bigger condos or landed properties.

So for now, our main focus is to further strengthen our passive income streams to ensure that it will grow and keep pace with inflation.

Nowadays, owning a new car is not difficult. Many people earn big profits after flipping their first BTO flats. They use the profit to pay cash downpayment and loan for 5 years. After 5 years, they sell their car and use the cash proceeds (since it was fully paid) as downpayment for their second new car. This goes on and on. After flipping their first BTO flat and get a second cheap BTO flat which they can pay off quickly or even pay in cash.

How to own a new car and new BTO flat, both fully paid up.

1, Buy first BTO flat for $200k.
2. After MOP, sell flat for $500k. Make profit of $300k.
3. Use $100k to buy a $100k car, paid in full cash.
4. Buy second BTO flat for $200k. Pay in full cash.
5. Own a new car and new BTO flat, both fully paid up.

31 y/o banking, 100k+ pa. Wife civil servant, 80k+ pa. Live in a flat bought at 500k+ now valued around 780k. 1 small car, with 2 kids and a maid. Typical sandwiched class family. Nowhere near as loaded as some of the forumers here..

Very promising start. $180k+ pa HH income in early 30s is more than decent. If no misstep in your career and no break in your employment history, hitting networth of $5m or more by the time you reach 50 yo is possible.

Our HH income was lower than yours when we were in our early 30s, it was maybe $80k pa. But 30 years of continuous employment, saving and investment, our networth now hit $5.5m.

With the government's call for people to work till 65 or 67, I think many people will retire as multi millionaires.

You are both doing well. We are in our forties and only earning a HH income of $157k pa. We sold our flat more than 10 years ago and upgraded to a condo. Now our condo is worth $1m and we have paid it up. We can now sleep in peace since we are now debt free. We hope to retire at 55.

You can consider upgrading to a condo. Let's say you sell your flat for $780k and assume your mortgage loan is left with $300k. After selling, you will get $480k which you can use as downpayment for a $1m condo. Your family can enjoy the nice condo facilities.

Agreed that condo living brings up the quality of life up another level or two. Make sure to buy in a relatively big condo with full facilities - 40m to 50m lap swimming pool and children's pool, tennis courts, basket ball court, gym, barbecue pits, tabble tennis room, and big function rooms. Used to stay in an old terrace house and had to drive out for games. Now no need. Friends come to our place to play instead.

I love the landscaping in our condo, and always enjoy the after-dinner walk around the estate with my wife.

Strangely quiet
 

This forum has not seen much traffic in the last week or so, which is strange given that it was once a busy thoroughfare with up to 5 posts in a day.

This has led me to suspect that there was actually only 4 to 5 different contributors. Otherwise how to explain that the traffic has virtually come to a standstill. If not, it is difficult to imagine everyone colluding not to contribute.

The last 3 posts seemed to be from the car salesman, the "how are we doing? Can we retire by 55" guy, and the old multi-millionaire (yours truly).

I hope you people are ok, or busy with your work and not because of problems. By the way, any of you helping out in the coming election? Either with the political parties or as officials preparing the voting centers?

it's obvious there are a few people here who enjoy talking to themselves.