Couple (mid 30s)

Cash 65k
Stocks 70k
Cpf (OA) 20k
No car
Flat 600k (80% fully paid up)
Income (gross) 200k combined

We should have more savings but as both my hubby and I spent alot when we were young, i also stopped work for a few years when my first child was born.

Now with 2 kids n 1 maid really wish we had saved more back then.

My advice to young couple starting out, always have a longer time horizon in financial planning. Its cool to defer gratification till later, not cool to defer kids because you want instant gratification as kids are not guaranteed thing...dont regret not having them only too late 😃

Good advice. Considering you income level and age, you are in pretty ok shape going forward. I would say you are in very comfortable position as long as lifestyle is simple.

Age: 48. single income

Cash 2.7M
Stocks 800k
CPF 700k
SRS 250k
Car MPV - fully paid
Condo 3 rooms (1.8M) - fully paid
Condo 2 rooms (1.2M) - fully paid. Rental income 5k/month

My advice is to be balanced. It's ridiculous to live with the attitude that any day can be your last, but at the same time scrimping all the time also makes for a miserable existence. If you have a hobby e.g. traveling, make sure you engage it at least once a year. Good memories will serve you well during tough times.

when did u buy your 2 room condo and location? how come rental so high, yield almost 5%. are you lying?

What do you do? How much you earn per month?

Are you a professional gambler?

Too good to be true.

Could be inheritance. Or a super high paying job like a banker, lawyer, doctor, perm sec, or minister.

45, unemployed, ex-high flyer.

live in a condo, fully paid

what should i do? i dont want to go back to the nasty, hypocritical, corporate world.

what job should i do? taxi driver earning $7k pm or tuition teacher earning $10k pm, which is better, not only in monetary terms but also social standing? both are noble jobs.

Got fired or quit on impulse?

I had 2X what you had at the same age, but how did SRS get to 250K? You would have contributed just about $130K if you've been contributing the maximum since the scheme was introduced. Have you been punting stocks with your SRS?

Hmmm...interesting....you should have some valuable skills tuition is nt bad, pay it forward to the young gen...why be taxi driver ? $7k is not a steady figure as many cabbies responded

Now is the opportunity for you to be your own boss.

I think tuition is the best since you are most likely to be highly educated. You can set up a tuition centre and eventually be a multi millionaire running a chain of tuition centers.

Go for it!

Where else can you gain double using SRS? Not rocket science.

This posting is rude but it is real. Landed property is the goal of every Singaporean who can afford it.

I am looking for a landed property somewhere in the Jurong Lake District. Upgrading from a condo. I'm targetting this inter-terrace at Westwood area asking for $2m. Hope to close at $1.9m. This is cheap as other places are selling above $3m.

savings
 

You don't need savings to survive in singapore these days. Nowadays 1k can also buy a HDB flat. You can live very well in singapore without any savings or whatsoever. CPF help you to save so you can spend all your income and survive.

not a good deal. i believe the landed property in Westwood is 99 year and not FH.

i would not advise anyone to purchase 99yr landed property, not even my worst enemy.

I disagree. It doesn't matter whether it is FH or 99 years. You see many 99 years LH selling at $3m, $4m and Sentosa $20m. The landed in Westwood is 99 years LH but with the Jurong Lake District development, prices will only go up.

Another sad case
 

My 50+ yr old fren suffered a heart attack, spent a few weeks recuperating. Came back to work and not long after was retrenched. This after working for compnay for many years and often late into the night. Got housewife and young kid to feed. Luckily 5 room HDB already paid up. Thinking of selling off car, but family considered this as only luxury item left.

How to find another job at 50+ and somemore with a heart attack record?

Here's what he can do:

1. Sell his 5 room HDB flat at $600k and downgrade to a $300k 3 room flat, fully paid.
2. Use the $300k profit to buy a low risk government related bond, giving 3% per annum. This earns him $9k per year or $750 per month.
3. He works as a security guard, earning $1500 per month.
4. Wife works as dish washer earning $2000 per month.
5. Total income $4250.
6. Sell car, take bus. Saves $1000 plus per month.

sure Sean, if you say so. then might as well get the Semi-D (2173 sq feet land) for 1.8? much better value than the inter terrace (1615 sq feet land) isn't it?

Dude...
Pt 1 cannot really do in Singapore.
Most singaporeans buy their HDB with CPF. Hence need to "top back" CPF. After topping back , most will find that there is hardly any real cash from sale to invest.

Pt 2 also no more 3% yield in govt bond for a very long time already...
Maybe some corporate -Temaseked linked companies bonds.. but not from govt

Singapore Government Bond 10Y

But sadly, i also dont have better ideas to suggest.

Landed properties in the West near the Jurng Lake District are rising in price to catch up with condo prices there. The Jurong Lake District will be the next Marina Bay.

Hey Sean, you are back! still haven't closed on your 99 year inter-terrace in JLD? ask the owner to lower price leh, 2 mil for 99 year landed is too ex lah.

age: 29
base salary: 7,500 (raise only in 2012 Q2)
savings: 25,000
stocks: 10,000

fiancee age: 27
base salary: 5,600
savings: 20,000

share a used 5 year old jap sedan
approx 25,950 installment left

flat: 490k queenstown hdb ready in 2015 (bto in dec 09 when salary 2.5k each)
holiday destinations: beach resort in thailand once a year

relatively poor compared to many here. simple lifestyle and save reasonably but can do better.

28 and 26 would be a lot more accurate

7500 base salary is in what industry. Both u and ur partner doing quite well. Banking industry?

age: 36+
annual base salary: $200K, bonus $30K

wife age: 34+
annual base salary: not working now (previously $90K)

house: 2-storey freehold terrace (cost $2.2M over 2 years back, current value $2.7M with $850K loan remaining)

cash in bank: $570K
stocks: $210K (annual dividend of $11K)
SRS and insurance cash value: $100K

car: bmw 5 series ($15K loan left)

doing relatively well compared to my peers with an engineering degree, but still a long away from getting out of the rat race

When you get married plus the flat renovations, all those savings will be flushed out. Then you will start from scratch again. Been there, done that. Be patient.

My position now is worse. I'm sole breadwinner, income less than your combined salary, and have a 4 yr old to feed, plus both sets of parents to support.
Wife dont save and has poor spending habits, so I squeeze every month to save a little.
It's hard work and future is unknown, but at least, with every dollar saved, the future is less bleak.

age: 32
base salary: 12,500
savings: 90,000
stocks: 510,000
unit trust: 130,000

3 year old Audi A6

flat: 620k Bishan hdb resale

Average compare to most of my peers, planning to retire before 40.

sorry to hear about your situation. dont give up on saving.

i am anticipating wedding procedures and renovation to flush out my savings.
i feel the need to change my lifestyle and save much more. easier said than done.
my dream to be out of the rat race seems almost uncertain now. maybe just succumb to what life 'govt' throws at me, stop trying too hard and enjoy the moment.

Can i ask what's stopping the two of you from paying off the jap sedan? You use half your savings, she use half, the japanese car is paid for already. Why want to keep paying installments? Unless you have a better plan, I am curious to hear it.

So you are holding on to an engineering degree?

Also same as the previous guy, I am curious why don't you pay off your loans when you have the means to do so. You have $570k, just a fraction can pay off the car. And the house too, you can use half of the savings to pay house loans.

I'm really curious why people like to continue paying installments and interests when they have the means to pay in full with their savings. My friend who has a $200k+ loan chose to pay only $30k for car down payment and take up $80,000 loan(before MAS policy stepped in). I'm really dying of curiosity.

Perhaps the previous guy is saving for his marriage and honeymoon, for your case, I'm honestly confused.

Care to explain why?

All high flyers.

My peasant data:

Couple: early 30s with 1 kid
Occupation: Sales
Annual income: 200 - 250k (combined, depending on performance)
Stocks: 25k
Cash: 70k
HDB loan: outstanding 180k
Cars: 2, outstanding loan 125k

Yes I have an engineering degree. Keeping cash to leverage up and buy assets in a downturn to sell at a higher price is my strategy. How else do you think i managed to build up a net asset value of over $2.8M starting with nothing?

Thanks for enlightenment. I'm still young and do not appreciate these concepts. World for me now is just to avoid debts and minimise interests rates. Seems like there's a way to make debts earn money (like buying property and selling it out higher)

Are you in the sales line? Hard for engineering grads to get a $200,000 base salary at 36. My cousin working as engineer for SIA Eng is only earning $100k PA, he's 34 now.

You dont sound genuine but i will humour you. I have an engineering degree but i work in IT.

Can you share with us what IT jobs can pay $230k a year. Which areas and how senior must the person be?

you can do some research on glassdoor.com

those high-paying ones in glassdoor are mostly back office IT guys in banks. same old same old.

Go and read up some basic economics books and you will understand.

Basic economics teach us that in a high inflation environment coupled especially with low borrowing cost, one should borrow money to invest. Singapore has been experiencing relatively high inflation rate (4 - 6%) and low borrowing interest rate (can be as low as 1% for housing loans) in the last 4 years. And it does not look like the situation is changing anytime soon.

Under such an environment, the lender "loses" and the borrower "wins" for the very simple reason that the money that you borrow from the bank will shrink in value with time. The borrower wins by investing the borrowed money (not anyhow spend) buying eg. condo, which will maintain (or grow) its value with time.

That is one of the main causes of rising property prices in Singapore. People got money, got no money also want to invest in property - because the value of money they keep in the bank shrinks by the day, and borrowing cost is sooo low (1%).

So people dont pay up their house loans, but instead they keep the cash for the next investment opportunity, like buying stocks...