How much are you earning per annum?

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Agreed and it would be double for 2 professional working couple.

The income data from DOS are for households. Double income professional couple households are already included. No doubt, their household incomes would cover the higher end range.

If the data was further divided into the top 10%, it would more accurately capture the double income professional couple households. I am sure many such households will be earning above $50,000 per month!

But even within the bottom half of the top 20%, many are easily saving above $300,000 per year. Especially the more senior or mature earners whose salaries peaked while their financial commitments taper off. From their early 50s to mid 60s, they could grow their networth by $1M every three years.

Industry: Boring one
Moving Money

Salary: Fair
240 - 270ish SGD annual gross plus some minor allowances and etc.

Education and Experience: Nothing fancy
6 years of experience coming out of undergrad. Finishing M7 MBA soon but not sure about the amount of post MBA increase, if any.

Work Hours: Reasonable compare to others, crazy compared to back home
2 hour lunch, 2-4 hour BSing, 4-6 hours real work. Never seen office on the weekend. Travel only when needed.

Expenses: We have nice things, but don't like waste money or pretend to have any "status"
Either bus or MRT for transportation
Renting condo on the cheap for the gym and pool
Eat at food court
Never buy coffees
Wife's a former model (srs) but spend even less than I do

I hope this forum can be kept going into the future. It can serve as an unofficial reference to the salary and wealth of posters in years past. It also captures the sentiments of posters on the economy and property prices through those periods.

For eg. looking back at the early postings from 2011, you can see that the salaries of posters have crept upwards. Their wealth or networth have also gone up. For some, in those 6 years (2011 to 2017) they see their wealth growing by a respectable $2M or $1M every 3 years.

Back in 2012, you see a few posters, two of whom are Wiseman1 and CS Lee, swearing on their lives that property prices will collapse by 2016 or earlier. This reflected the general sentiments of pessimists during that time about our economy and property market.

There are many other interesting observations that can be gleaned from the various postings throughout the years, including from the occasional foreign visitors to the forum.

So I hope we can keep this forum alive for as long as possible. Only thing to watch out for is to ensure the quality of the postings and not have those repetitive ones which do not offer new ideas nor subject in their every post. The worst kinds are those that cut and paste the same posts over and over again.

How much is your net worth now? When do you plan to retire? Do plan to retire in your home country? I assume it's cheaper to retire back home.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Industry: Boring one
Moving Money

Salary: Fair
240 - 270ish SGD annual gross plus some minor allowances and etc.

Education and Experience: Nothing fancy
6 years of experience coming out of undergrad. Finishing M7 MBA soon but not sure about the amount of post MBA increase, if any.

Work Hours: Reasonable compare to others, crazy compared to back home
2 hour lunch, 2-4 hour BSing, 4-6 hours real work. Never seen office on the weekend. Travel only when needed.

Expenses: We have nice things, but don't like waste money or pretend to have any "status"
Either bus or MRT for transportation
Renting condo on the cheap for the gym and pool
Eat at food court
Never buy coffees
Wife's a former model (srs) but spend even less than I do

Originally Posted by Unregistered

How much is your net worth now? When do you plan to retire? Do plan to retire in your home country? I assume it's cheaper to retire back home.

Very little networth, school was very expensive. Maybe 300K liquid asset on a good day. Sold the house and cars back in the US. Wife's parents own a few apartments in another country but not going to retire there. Never thought much about retiring actually as we just live our lives for now.

Hope to have a house paid up and 3 - 4M liquid asset when retiring.

I don't believe in buying a risky, illiquid and depreciating asset that is only returning @ a risk free government treasury yield.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Industry: Boring one
Moving Money

Salary: Fair
240 - 270ish SGD annual gross plus some minor allowances and etc.

Education and Experience: Nothing fancy
6 years of experience coming out of undergrad. Finishing M7 MBA soon but not sure about the amount of post MBA increase, if any.

Work Hours: Reasonable compare to others, crazy compared to back home
2 hour lunch, 2-4 hour BSing, 4-6 hours real work. Never seen office on the weekend. Travel only when needed.

Expenses: We have nice things, but don't like waste money or pretend to have any "status"
Either bus or MRT for transportation
Renting condo on the cheap for the gym and pool
Eat at food court
Never buy coffees
Wife's a former model (srs) but spend even less than I do

6 years of experience, earning 250k p.a. with short working hours. I'm genuinely curious on what you actually do.

43k
software engineer
0.5 year experience

Originally Posted by Unregistered

6 years of experience, earning 250k p.a. with short working hours. I'm genuinely curious on what you actually do.

Would you believe then if someone told you their income is $150k pa without working. Well this is real for those with prudent lifestyle and disciplined savings & investment throughout their working life. We are currently deriving such passive income each year and we still work although working is now optional for us.

We are still earning good pay and saving all of it. You will know you are on to a good model when the passive income grows year on year and your networth also grows. We will monitor the situation for 2 more years to see if its robust enough as well as to build in more buffer to take care of sudden economic headwinds.

We have long savoured the benefits of passive income where you have more than one pay day per month and throughout the year. Gone were the days where after pay day each month, you can only long for the next pay day - next month. Now we have income coming in every now and then. The feeling is very different. Imagine you go to the ATM and make a withdrawal. Instead of seeing your savings amount go down, you see that the amount has gone up - from passive income that has been credited the day before.

Couple early 40s working professionals with two young children
Combined employment income: $230k pa
Rental income from 2nd property: $41k pa
Fully paid HDB
Outstanding loan on 2nd property: $1mil
Net worth: $1.5mil (including $400k fixed deposits)
No car
Annual savings: $80k
Both target to retire in 10 years time (before 55 years old)

Are we doing fine?

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Would you believe then if someone told you their income is $150k pa without working. Well this is real for those with prudent lifestyle and disciplined savings & investment throughout their working life. We are currently deriving such passive income each year and we still work although working is now optional for us.

We are still earning good pay and saving all of it. You will know you are on to a good model when the passive income grows year on year and your networth also grows. We will monitor the situation for 2 more years to see if its robust enough as well as to build in more buffer to take care of sudden economic headwinds.

We have long savoured the benefits of passive income where you have more than one pay day per month and throughout the year. Gone were the days where after pay day each month, you can only long for the next pay day - next month. Now we have income coming in every now and then. The feeling is very different. Imagine you go to the ATM and make a withdrawal. Instead of seeing your savings amount go down, you see that the amount has gone up - from passive income that has been credited the day before.

How much do you need to invest to make $150k pa and what are you investing in?