How much are you earning per annum?

Not so young couple, 45 & 45. HH income $400k.
Paid up condo and car. Hold cash and CPF waiting for right time to enter 2nd property.
Net worth $2.5M.
Also hope to retire in Singapore by 55

Good to hold on cash.

Property will crash by 30%
Cars COE will crash below $10k

Take your pick.

Found from internet, this interesting and sobering quote from Warren Buffet : "If you don’t find a way to make money while you sleep, you will work until you die."

What did he mean by making money while we sleep? I take it to mean passive income from our investments.

Another thought provoking post to think about from a financial blogger. It is about having a back up source of cash flow:

"Recently, my water heater in my toilet has gone haywire and stopped working. It no longer provides me with warm water flow any more. I have no idea why it has stopped working. Probably it has a limited lifespan – I have used it for 6 years. Or probably the wires inside must have short-circuited. No matter what may the reason be, it has stopped providing me with warm water flow.

Luckily, I have 2 toilets at home. The water heater in that toilet is still working and it is able to provide me with warm water flow. So no impact to my normal life. It took 3 days for me to find a replacement for the water heater (with installation) for my first toilet.
What if it is not a spoilt water heater. This leads me to my second portion of my thoughts. What if the issue faced is not a spoilt water heater and it is a loss of job. It is no longer about Water Flow. Now it will be a stoppage of Cash Flow.

One and Only Cash Flow Channel
Most people have only 1 cash flow channel. For employees, it will be their job which pays them a monthly salary. For self-employed, it will be their business commission or business profits. For those who have lost their jobs, how long do they need to find a replacement job? Can it be as easy as finding a replacement for a water heater within 3 days? During a good economy, finding a job usually takes less than 3 months. In a bad economy or recession, it will take at least 6 months or longer to find a job. Worst, there may not even have enough jobs as companies are cutting down on their hiring. For the self-employed, your business commission or business profits may be reduced in a bad economy.
So is another channel of cash flow necessary for you?

My answer to this would be, we not only need channels of cashflow, we also need to know how to build them and to build them fast, before the primary channel of cash flow stop"

Your paid up hdb flat can generate cash flow.
Your last resort is to rent out your flat for $2.5k pm.
Convert to RM7k and live in JB.
You can rent a 3 bedroom condo in JB for RM1k pm.
The rest can use to buy food, drive a car, etc.
Your hdb flat is your best asset.

If you want to work, just be an uber or grab driver if you can't find other jobs.

There is still a lot of hope for those who think positive.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Found from internet, this interesting and sobering quote from Warren Buffet : "If you don’t find a way to make money while you sleep, you will work until you die."

What did he mean by making money while we sleep? I take it to mean passive income from our investments.

Another thought provoking post to think about from a financial blogger. It is about having a back up source of cash flow:

"Recently, my water heater in my toilet has gone haywire and stopped working. It no longer provides me with warm water flow any more. I have no idea why it has stopped working. Probably it has a limited lifespan – I have used it for 6 years. Or probably the wires inside must have short-circuited. No matter what may the reason be, it has stopped providing me with warm water flow.

Luckily, I have 2 toilets at home. The water heater in that toilet is still working and it is able to provide me with warm water flow. So no impact to my normal life. It took 3 days for me to find a replacement for the water heater (with installation) for my first toilet.
What if it is not a spoilt water heater. This leads me to my second portion of my thoughts. What if the issue faced is not a spoilt water heater and it is a loss of job. It is no longer about Water Flow. Now it will be a stoppage of Cash Flow.

One and Only Cash Flow Channel
Most people have only 1 cash flow channel. For employees, it will be their job which pays them a monthly salary. For self-employed, it will be their business commission or business profits. For those who have lost their jobs, how long do they need to find a replacement job? Can it be as easy as finding a replacement for a water heater within 3 days? During a good economy, finding a job usually takes less than 3 months. In a bad economy or recession, it will take at least 6 months or longer to find a job. Worst, there may not even have enough jobs as companies are cutting down on their hiring. For the self-employed, your business commission or business profits may be reduced in a bad economy.
So is another channel of cash flow necessary for you?

My answer to this would be, we not only need channels of cashflow, we also need to know how to build them and to build them fast, before the primary channel of cash flow stop"

Couple in late 40s.
Total income $180k pa.
Savings $30k pa.
Condo and car paid up.
Condo $950k.
Total net worth $2.2m.
Thinking of retiring at 55.

Congratulations on being a millionaire. You can retire at 55 provided you move to cheaper home. If you sell your condo and move to a HDB 4 room flat, assuming you have children still staying with you, after putting aside CPF SA and MA and purchase of flat ($400k), you will have investable assets of $1.3m. Invest in a 5% REITs portfolio and you get $65k pa in dividends.

This would suffice for a retired couple who doesn't drive, drink, smoke nor gamble. Also by then your children are working and can feed themselves. They may also give you some allowance which you can save.

When your kids are married and move into their own hdb BTO flat, you then sell away your hdb flat and buy a one bedroom condo near an MRT station.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Couple in late 40s.
Total income $180k pa.
Savings $30k pa.
Condo and car paid up.
Condo $950k.
Total net worth $2.2m.
Thinking of retiring at 55.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Couple in late 40s.
Total income $180k pa.
Savings $30k pa.
Condo and car paid up.
Condo $950k.
Total net worth $2.2m.
Thinking of retiring at 55.

If the savings = 30000 + condo 950000 = 980000 where is the nett worth of 2200000? or deficiency of 1220000 perhaps you are driving a million dollar car

Originally Posted by Einstein

If the savings = 30000 + condo 950000 = 980000 where is the nett worth of 2200000? or deficiency of 1220000 perhaps you are driving a million dollar car

30k p.a. Think he omitted to share his cash in hand and other liquid assets.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Congratulations on being a millionaire. You can retire at 55 provided you move to cheaper home. If you sell your condo and move to a HDB 4 room flat, assuming you have children still staying with you, after putting aside CPF SA and MA and purchase of flat ($400k), you will have investable assets of $1.3m. Invest in a 5% REITs portfolio and you get $65k pa in dividends.

This would suffice for a retired couple who doesn't drive, drink, smoke nor gamble. Also by then your children are working and can feed themselves. They may also give you some allowance which you can save.

When your kids are married and move into their own hdb BTO flat, you then sell away your hdb flat and buy a one bedroom condo near an MRT station.

I think it's fkn sad that a millionaire (multi at that) in Singapore has to live such a life. Honestly, migrate over to Australia/NZ and get a big house in the suburbs for 1/2 the price of a HDB here. You can even maintain a car and pets if you so wish.

$2,2m is for 2 person, so he is not a multi millionaire. To be more correct, we should only consider the investible networth of a person (ie minus his primary residence). In that case, his networth is around $500k?

Yes, Singapore is a high cost city, but then many developed cities in the world are high cost places to live in. Only problem here is that we dont have a suburb to retire to.
So for $500k, spending $50k a year, his savings will run out in 10 years. Retiring at 55 means he will be back to work at 65. Sad yes, but better to be working than wasting your life away doing nothing

Originally Posted by Unregistered

I think it's fkn sad that a millionaire (multi at that) in Singapore has to live such a life. Honestly, migrate over to Australia/NZ and get a big house in the suburbs for 1/2 the price of a HDB here. You can even maintain a car and pets if you so wish.