How much are you earning per annum?

We're at our early 30's.
HH income: 180k/annum inc. Bon.
Passive income: 19k-20k/annum and growing.
HDB 3 rooms (on hdb loans).
No Car, No kids.

I think we're doing alright.

Very true and sound advise.

Retirement is a personal choice but one must be prepared based on our own circumstances.

No point coming to this forum trying to get affirmation for a bad decision.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Must read this kind of research result with a pinch of salt. For every report that concluded that retirement is good, there are 2 reports that said early retirement is bad for health. For eg see this: .medicaldaily.com/planning-retiring-early-consider-these-5-health-risks-first-247669

Thus don't be swayed by the studies, especially as they were based on Ang Moh societies. We should assess whether to retire or not based on our own specific circumstances. Some questions we should ask ourselves :

Have you achieved what you want in life?
Do you have sufficient savings to support your retirement lifestyle and for how many years?
Do you like our job? Do you derived satisfaction and sense of achievement in your job?
Is your job detrimental to your health?
Do you know what to do in retirement?
Will your social life be better in retirement? Or will you become loners/ isolated?
Are you currently relying on your company medical insurance / benefits for your ailment?

As you can see, financial security / adequacy is only one of the factors to consider in deciding whether to retire. The others are equally important. But the most important is to be discerning enough not to blindly follow other people. You should be fully aware of your own situation and circumstances to know if you can retire already.

If you have to come to this forum to get affirmation for your decision then you are not ready.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Thanks for the article. The research findings is very true. I'm retired and I am very much happier now than when I was working in a highly stressful job in high finance. Anyway I've made my fortune and now is the time to enjoy it. I think if I had continued working I could be dead by now as the level of stress is just too much. I'm happier, healthier and my family loves me more. I'm financially in a very good position. Life is very good now!

Everyone in this forum must be envious of you. But you deserved it as you worked very hard in your career and made tons of $$$. To do well in high finance is not easy. Many of us here are just your typical salaried worker, working until we are old into our 50s and 60s. Well, you must have been a very hardworking and intelligent student to be able to secure a place in high finance. Many of us here are just mediocre students. LOL.

As we enjoy our holidays and reflect upon our successes in 2015, please do spare a thought for the billions of poor people and children all over the world especially those in Africa and developing Asia. We are very fortunate to be in Singapore. We sometimes argue over things like where to go for holidays, which restaurants to go, which 5 star hotels to stay in, etc while billions worry about their next meal.

In this forum, we like to compare how much money we make, how much we save and how rich we are. Some even say they don't have enough even with a net worth of $5m. Rather than spending their time looking after the poor, these people would still want to earn more and more.

Those of you out there, if you have achieved financial independence, please retire and devote your time to take care of the poor and destitute. There are billions of people crying for you to make a small difference in their life. Don't pretend everything is fine. Humanity needs you!

You sound like a major loser lol, its no wonder life left you behind.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Everyone in this forum must be envious of you. But you deserved it as you worked very hard in your career and made tons of $$$. To do well in high finance is not easy. Many of us here are just your typical salaried worker, working until we are old into our 50s and 60s. Well, you must have been a very hardworking and intelligent student to be able to secure a place in high finance. Many of us here are just mediocre students. LOL.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

You sound like a major loser lol, its no wonder life left you behind.

You are the loser. Just admit. LOL.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

We're at our early 30's.
HH income: 180k/annum inc. Bon.
Passive income: 19k-20k/annum and growing.
HDB 3 rooms (on hdb loans).
No Car, No kids.

I think we're doing alright.

We're at our late 40s.
HH income: 190k/annum inc bonus.
Passive income: Nil
Condo 3 rooms, no more loan.
One car, paid up. 2 kids.

I think we're doing alright too.
We lead a humble, simple life.
We hope to retire by downgrading to a studio condo when we reach 60.
By then our kids will be married and living in their BTO flats.

The best way to help the poor is by giving them jobs, not by giving them money only. Jobs give people dignity, a sense of purpose, hope and pride.

At the very simplistic level, we can help create jobs by creating demands on goods and services through our spending/consumption. We can feel this effect ourselves when overseas (especially US and China) demands for our goods and services decline. We see retrenchment and companies closing down. Rentals for buildings/factories will decline and your investment in REITS will also tank.

At the very local level, if people retire and stop employing maids, many of the maids here will have to go home to their poor villages and families unable to bring them out of poverty. Likewise if everyone stop buying cars, our car salesmen will lose their likelihood, car businesses will close down.

Retiring to help the poor? No, the poor needs jobs and money, more than your time. So the best way to help the poor to break out from the poverty cycle is to give them useful skills and jobs. We can do this best by remaining in employment, invest and spend our money.

Here's how we do our little bits. We employ a maid, have 2 cars and pay people to wash the cars. We stay in a condo that employs 8 guards on 2 shifts. The guy who wash our cars has little formal education but is enterprising. He shared that he washes cars from two nearby condos and was able to earn a decent income to feed his family. Before that he was drifting from job to job barely earning enough to feed himself. So imagine if all the 2 condo dwellers wash their own cars, this guy will be out of a job. If people all retire, stop employing maids, stop owning cars and downgrade to HDB flats, a chain of people will lose their employment and go back into poverty.

Retiring to help the poor is not the best way to help them. If you're good at your job and earn good money, it is better to continue working and donate money to them. When you earn and spend money, you create demands for goods and services which creates jobs. This is what people need.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

As we enjoy our holidays and reflect upon our successes in 2015, please do spare a thought for the billions of poor people and children all over the world especially those in Africa and developing Asia. We are very fortunate to be in Singapore. We sometimes argue over things like where to go for holidays, which restaurants to go, which 5 star hotels to stay in, etc while billions worry about their next meal.

In this forum, we like to compare how much money we make, how much we save and how rich we are. Some even say they don't have enough even with a net worth of $5m. Rather than spending their time looking after the poor, these people would still want to earn more and more.

Those of you out there, if you have achieved financial independence, please retire and devote your time to take care of the poor and destitute. There are billions of people crying for you to make a small difference in their life. Don't pretend everything is fine. Humanity needs you!

Lame excuses.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

The best way to help the poor is by giving them jobs, not by giving them money only. Jobs give people dignity, a sense of purpose, hope and pride.

At the very simplistic level, we can help create jobs by creating demands on goods and services through our spending/consumption. We can feel this effect ourselves when overseas (especially US and China) demands for our goods and services decline. We see retrenchment and companies closing down. Rentals for buildings/factories will decline and your investment in REITS will also tank.

At the very local level, if people retire and stop employing maids, many of the maids here will have to go home to their poor villages and families unable to bring them out of poverty. Likewise if everyone stop buying cars, our car salesmen will lose their likelihood, car businesses will close down.

Retiring to help the poor? No, the poor needs jobs and money, more than your time. So the best way to help the poor to break out from the poverty cycle is to give them useful skills and jobs. We can do this best by remaining in employment, invest and spend our money.

Here's how we do our little bits. We employ a maid, have 2 cars and pay people to wash the cars. We stay in a condo that employs 8 guards on 2 shifts. The guy who wash our cars has little formal education but is enterprising. He shared that he washes cars from two nearby condos and was able to earn a decent income to feed his family. Before that he was drifting from job to job barely earning enough to feed himself. So imagine if all the 2 condo dwellers wash their own cars, this guy will be out of a job. If people all retire, stop employing maids, stop owning cars and downgrade to HDB flats, a chain of people will lose their employment and go back into poverty.

Retiring to help the poor is not the best way to help them. If you're good at your job and earn good money, it is better to continue working and donate money to them. When you earn and spend money, you create demands for goods and services which creates jobs. This is what people need.

Don't be fooled its either the same guy replying to his own post or his lover cheering him on.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

You sound like a major loser lol, its no wonder life left you behind.