How much are you earning per annum?

Originally Posted by Retired couple

Married couple with grown up children.
Mid 50s, both retired. Own three properties. Live in a small HDB flat and rents out two PC.
Passive income per month of $5,000 net.
Drives a small car. No liabilities.
Combined net worth of $3m only.
We are your typical average Singaporean retirees.
Our retired friends are richer, they earn passive income of $10,000 pm and their net worth are about $5m. Even though we underperformed, we are happy as we still can afford some food on the table.

Have to say I admire your guts to be retiring with just $5K a mth passive income. Have you planned for a worst case scenario where the economy tank, no tenants, but still gotta pay maintenance fees, property taxes, repairs. Selling the properties may be an option, but could be at fire sale prices. Then your passive stream will dry up. Eat grass then.

My target for passive income is $100k pa although I could live comfortably with $5k per mth based on current expenses and living costs, so that I could continue to save when I retire. Inflation is biggest bug bear. Very soon, you will see families earning $4K per mth classified as poor and qualify for financial assistance.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Have to say I admire your guts to be retiring with just $5K a mth passive income. Have you planned for a worst case scenario where the economy tank, no tenants, but still gotta pay maintenance fees, property taxes, repairs. Selling the properties may be an option, but could be at fire sale prices. Then your passive stream will dry up. Eat grass then.

My target for passive income is $100k pa although I could live comfortably with $5k per mth based on current expenses and living costs, so that I could continue to save when I retire. Inflation is biggest bug bear. Very soon, you will see families earning $4K per mth classified as poor and qualify for financial assistance.

Thanks for the reminder. We don't have to worry about the worst case scenario as this is already prepared. From our passive income of $5k, we still manage to save. Our biggest non essential expense at this moment is the maid and car. We plan to terminate our maid's services once her contract ends early next year. We will also not be buying a replacement car when the COE of our existing car ends in Oct next year. We estimate this will save us another $1.5k of monthly expenses. We are also not so worried about having no tenants for our PCs as they are new and well renovated and both are located next to MRT stations. We have also set aside an emergency fund to finance our expenses for 8 years in the unlikely event of both our PCs remain untenanted. Most economic downturn will not last for more than a year as we have a very strong government with plenty of financial resources to boost the economy.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

$5k pm spending, save $1k pm. I also have cash reserves of $200k, just in case I need to use.

Thanks. It's useful to know.

wow you guys are good. i am already 35 and have only 800k+ net worth excluding home.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

wow you guys are good. i am already 35 and have only 800k+ net worth excluding home.

that's not bad at all. i know of people aged 35, who are still single, no house, living with parents, earning $3k pm and have net worth of only $50k. they spend a lot of time in gaming arcade and chat rooms. no ambition at all. expect parents to spoon feed them. irresponsible singles.

you must count your lucky stars.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Hi 'Shell Gas Trader'.....a fresh graduate 5 years into shell will get a min package of 75k.....not incl variable..your numbers are not very reliable leh....

Definitely. Fresh graduate package is already 54k +++, by third year, most get more than 75k+.

Bonus is definitely more than 4k as mentioned. It is more than 3 months every year.

But imo, remuneration is important but not so important as what many emphasize it to be. Think about the culture, working environment of the company, prospects and interest in your job scope, etc.

Just my 2 cents comments

Wife and I are salaried office workers, doing admin. We don't earn so much but enough for a family of five. She is 45 and I'm 48. We earn a total income of S$100,000 per year, below the average household income. Our family stay in a 5 room HDB flat bought in 1992, fully paid. We have enough to enjoy simple pleasures like going holidays in the region. We plan to retire in Thailand. Since our flat is now worth S$800,000 and likely go up to S$1 million in ten years time, once we sell, we are able to buy a nice condo in Pattaya and have lots of spare cash. S$1 million in Thai baht is a lot of money. My relatives there will treat me like a some body there. Here, I'm of no significance at all. But we are thankful that we can get rich in our system. Many of my relatives also want to work and buy HDB flats here.

[Wiseman1]

Originally Posted by Unregistered

You sound like a few of my less intelligent colleagues (mainly FTs from 3rd world countries).
These guys don't know much about our country nor about the global financial system. When we had the crisis in 2008, I bought a condo in Orchard area at a distressed price. I told them to buy other condos selling at fire sale prices but they were afraid.

Now after the global crisis recovered, prices shot up and they keep saying prices will crash again. I just smiled. The condo I bought is now worth $1m more than the price I paid. My best performing investment so far. The rental yield (based on my purchase price) is 7% and it is fully paid up now.

I try not to resort to name calling but you don't sound a single bit intelligent at all...if you don't understand what I am driving at, then don't bother responding because you appear more like an idiot.

Try to liquidate your property at the price you say it is worth...if you cant find any serious sellers....then what the f are you talking about...your wealth is just a mirage...

Originally Posted by Wiseman1

I try not to resort to name calling but you don't sound a single bit intelligent at all...if you don't understand what I am driving at, then don't bother responding because you appear more like an idiot.

Try to liquidate your property at the price you say it is worth...if you cant find any serious sellers....then what the f are you talking about...your wealth is just a mirage...

Son, I think you misunderstood him. Not polite for you to insult him. A person who bought a property during the crisis is definitely very intelligent, just look at property prices now.

As for you, dont use the username Wiseman.

[Wiseman1]

Originally Posted by Old man

Son, I think you misunderstood him. Not polite for you to insult him. A person who bought a property during the crisis is definitely very intelligent, just look at property prices now.

As for you, dont use the username Wiseman.

Since he is not polite with his response, why should I bother to be civilised???

Where did you see me say he is stupid to buy a property for investment when the market is down?

All I am saying is there are a lot of property owners up there sitting on paper profits so they think they are worth millions. Is this not a mirage?

Everyone should do a reality check, you are not worth the millions you think you are, until the point when your properties are sold to the next sucker and cash is in your hands. But first of all, you must find that sucker!

This is not being sour grapes, this is a fact, the irrational bullishness and misplaced optimism that silly-poreans hold on the property front is the biggest risk yet to the property market as a whole.

The current situation is akin to a musical chair, I buy a house at "x" price, I dont care if the price is too high, I am confident the market would keep going up, there would be another person who would come along to buy my house at even higher prices so I can make a tidy profit. It wont go wrong....but we all know the music must stop at some point