How much are you earning per annum?

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Hi..don't be demoralised..fact is i made much lesser than you cause the bonus is before increment..plus you grad later..and you're in sell side investment banking, most likely you're amongst the top 1% earners in Sg for your age group.

Moral of the story: Grass is always greener on the other side and money is never enough!!

what does sell side investment mean?

I worked for 7 years since graduation.

My first job was only 1.8k/month. I did not study hard in school, got a basic degree, took the first job I could find. I was those slack types who wont turn up for classes, never study prepare for exams, never bother to find internships, never bothered to put up a good impression in front of professors to get reccomendation letters. I was just interested in living a happy life and enjoy my uni days.

The 1.8k job shocked me to my senses.. I was a total loser by any country's standard and especially by Singapore's standard. I was a liability to my family which was poor.

I did not give up. I choose to fight against the system and struggle to overcome my poor start. I took night classes 4 times a week to get professional certifications, work OT in my jobs to learn anything that I thought could help me move from a non finance back office job to a front office job, which I ultimately did. When my boss or colleagues ask me out for drinks, dinner etc. I will go no matter how much I hate to socialize(i am an introvert). I will go to seminars to network. All in hope that people will be more willing to teach me. I will volunteer for extra work. I will stay back to help my colleagues do their work so that I can learn what they are doing. I was also lucky to have good bosses who recognized my drive and gave me the responsibilities to perform. When I go home at 10-11pm either after work or classes, I stay up to study until 2am. Next day, I reported to work at 9am on time. My salary was so low that I had to scrimp and save to pay for my classes. Dinner and lunch was usually only a piece of bread and water from the tap.

Gradually, things improved and my pay jumped almost 10 times over these years.

But as I switch jobs and increase my salary, it just made me more and more unhappy as I climb and see more and more pple earning so much more than me.

after a while I realise, it was the journey that I loved, the constant learning, the passion that I had to learn new things and apply them to practical solutions to help people.










But

Just sharing. Hope more people will do the same.
34m, grad 2006
IT.
100k p.a. after 20% jump last year.
Last yr close to no bonus.
Stay in HDB, no well-off parents, no passive income, no property (yet) to profiteer from the boom in the past years.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Just sharing. Hope more people will do the same.
34m, grad 2006
IT.
100k p.a. after 20% jump last year.
Last yr close to no bonus.
Stay in HDB, no well-off parents, no passive income, no property (yet) to profiteer from the boom in the past years.

may i know if you are in the technical role or project management or sale?

Originally Posted by Unregistered

I worked for 7 years since graduation.

My first job was only 1.8k/month. I did not study hard in school, got a basic degree, took the first job I could find. I was those slack types who wont turn up for classes, never study prepare for exams, never bother to find internships, never bothered to put up a good impression in front of professors to get reccomendation letters. I was just interested in living a happy life and enjoy my uni days.

The 1.8k job shocked me to my senses.. I was a total loser by any country's standard and especially by Singapore's standard. I was a liability to my family which was poor.

I did not give up. I choose to fight against the system and struggle to overcome my poor start. I took night classes 4 times a week to get professional certifications, work OT in my jobs to learn anything that I thought could help me move from a non finance back office job to a front office job, which I ultimately did. When my boss or colleagues ask me out for drinks, dinner etc. I will go no matter how much I hate to socialize(i am an introvert). I will go to seminars to network. All in hope that people will be more willing to teach me. I will volunteer for extra work. I will stay back to help my colleagues do their work so that I can learn what they are doing. I was also lucky to have good bosses who recognized my drive and gave me the responsibilities to perform. When I go home at 10-11pm either after work or classes, I stay up to study until 2am. Next day, I reported to work at 9am on time. My salary was so low that I had to scrimp and save to pay for my classes. Dinner and lunch was usually only a piece of bread and water from the tap.

Gradually, things improved and my pay jumped almost 10 times over these years.

But as I switch jobs and increase my salary, it just made me more and more unhappy as I climb and see more and more pple earning so much more than me.

after a while I realise, it was the journey that I loved, the constant learning, the passion that I had to learn new things and apply them to practical solutions to help people.

But

Aiyah, you are not alone lah. There are many people ahead of you still struggling in their 60s and 70s. Last night, PM said people should continue to work past 65.

Ministers, top CEOs, professionals all moving on from to other jobs once they stepped down from their posts. Who wants to call it quits?

Money is always not enough. People fight over their parents' HDB flats even when they are not needy.

Sad that people have yet to see the "light". It is understandable poor people may be too caught up chasing their next pay, but for rich people to be equally pre-occupied with money is really sad and disappointing.

I have worked very hard all my life, from school to working life. Now I am in my forties and I am now told by my doctor to slow down or else I will die early due to my stressful corporate career. I don't want to die before seeing my children grow up and get married.

I discussed long and hard with my wife and kids and we concluded that I must stop working immediately and take a break and then find a more relaxing work. Luckily I have not wasted my big salary and bonuses on expensive cars, gambling, parties and women all these years. Instead, I have invested in a few properties. Now I can get a net rental income of $10K per month. I have decided to quit my job next month and will survive with this rental income. I believe my family and I will survive, even though we are not used to living on this small monthly income.

A healthy meaningful life is more important than tons of money. I am lucky my family loves me very much and they don't want me to die a sudden death.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

may i know if you are in the technical role or project management or sale?

Technical role.
Have been in IB IT for 4 years. High stress, low life, no hair.

Sorry to hear about your predicament but that is life. We can't live life thinking all will be well and as what we plan for. Don't wait till the last minute to do what you always wanted to do. Don't say "I'll do charity work when I retire at 65". You may not even live that long. Do it now, be a blessing in this world. There is no need to work so hard till you drop dead leaving behind so much cash, cars, properties, and all kinds of wealth to your children as they may just become lazy bums who would squander away your fortune. Instead, teach your children well to become good, responsible citizens.

I was in your situation a few years ago. I used to live in a big landed house and own investment properties. I got a heart attack one day, almost lost my life but survived. It was a wake up call. I am now a changed man. I stop the pursuit of material wealth and focus on the spiritual. My heart is now more at peace and I wake up every morning feeling blessed by the Creator. As my wife was not working, I had to make tough decisions. I sold my landed property at a good price, pay off all my loan and now owns 3 properties. My family and I stay in a condo and rent out the other two condos. We survive on $6k per month. I sold away my car, stop having a maid and cook at home. Life is so much more meaningful today.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

I have worked very hard all my life, from school to working life. Now I am in my forties and I am now told by my doctor to slow down or else I will die early due to my stressful corporate career. I don't want to die before seeing my children grow up and get married.

I discussed long and hard with my wife and kids and we concluded that I must stop working immediately and take a break and then find a more relaxing work. Luckily I have not wasted my big salary and bonuses on expensive cars, gambling, parties and women all these years. Instead, I have invested in a few properties. Now I can get a net rental income of $10K per month. I have decided to quit my job next month and will survive with this rental income. I believe my family and I will survive, even though we are not used to living on this small monthly income.

A healthy meaningful life is more important than tons of money. I am lucky my family loves me very much and they don't want me to die a sudden death.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Interesting forum this. Many views and opinions. Here is my story.

25 years ago, my wife & I set a target of $1M to save (not including the property we stay in) and then retire or to shift gear to a more relaxed lifestyle. We achieved that in 15 yrs. Seeing how the cost of living has crept up, we raised that target to $1.5M. We hit that target in 5 more yrs. Again, with persistent high inflation, we raised the target once more to $2M, we hit that 2 yrs ago. Now at 50 yrs of age, we still have not achieved peace of mind to call it a day. Our target now is $3M. With careful investment and passive income of $80K per yr, we are well on our way to hit $3M in 3 yrs time.

It dawned on us that what will give peace of mind is the continuous stream of income rather than the amount saved. With $3M, I think we could generate a stable stream of passive income of $120K per yr. I think then we could either retire or shift gear.

From the looks of it, you should shift it to 5 m instead of moving the post every 3 years. That way inflation will be taken care of . If you can hit 0.5 M in 2 years, Doubling your current assets from 2.5 to 5 will take 10 years. So retire at 60. It will perpetually be a rat race. Who knows what you may need by the time you reach 60?

Otherwise , you can still be contented with 2 m. Assuming return at a conservative 3%, it is still SGD 60K per yr. With no debt , it is very managable in today context.

I'm 25
2 years exp
Higher Nitec in Info tech
Earning $1900pm
Network support specialist. @ local singapore industry.
Damn stress reading the whole forum from page 1-229