I am Singaporean....kids will either attend international school or commute with me...

But prob will be staying on in Sg as more lucrative to locum fulltime here than get an employee job in Tuas or Woodlands...

so you can't retire now, back to square one.

As explained in great detail earlier, we can if we want or need to by selling our Sg properties but kids will have to study local u...and my condo within 4yr SSD so we will not for now...

So given the restrictions on your condo and your wish for your sons to study overseas, you can't retire now. You need to work, like most people, for the next 20 years or so. Not easy to retire young for 99.9% of the population. Only the top 0.01% can retire in Singapore in their early 40s. The ex top bankers, ex top lawyers and ex top executives.

Ordinary working professionals earning $150k plus pa considered normal for professionals, not high enough to retire in Singapore in their early 40s. But they can retire early in Malaysia or Thailand if they don't have kids schooling in Singapore or old folks in Singapore to take care of.

Can you retire if you rent out your Sg properties instead if selling? International school fees are a major cash drain and you still need to repay your loan on the johor property. Suggest not to sell else will cost more to buy again next time if living in johor doesn't work out.

Depends on rental market and interest rates. Most optimistic scenario if can rent out high and interest rates stay low, possible to retire in JB, esp if kids go to Sg by bus...

Terrace : $5000 rental
Condo : $3000 rental

Pay off condo

Mortgage for terrace at current low rates:$2250
Mortgage for jb semi d :$1200

Passive income = $8000-$2250-$1200=$4550

This is too optimistic. Why not you retire fully in JB while your husband continues to work since he is earning $100k pa, which is RM250k pa. With this amount, you can afford to send your kids to an international school in JB and they don't have to wake up so early. You can take your time to send and fetch them in a cheap JB car. Your hubby can happily go to work at 5am and come back home at 9pm. You can spend your retirement reading books, cooking and relaxing. Everyone will be happy. Good plan?

Don't think my husband will be happy doing that...anyway his job quite unstable...last year was a good year for him...I came up with this plan in case we r both forced to retire early...

Johor just announced the site for the RTS to Sg! It will be at Bukit Chager...supposed to be built by 2019 and will link to Thonson Line....my plan is to stay in my semid in JB and buy a malaysian car and commute with my sons to Sg in the morning for their school while I work halfday...so semiretiring in JB....would have paid up my terrace in Sg by then and passive rental income should be enough even if I do not work...

Hi,

I can try providing some decent advise, but could you repost or provide the link to the post describing your situation? (Too much post between)

I was occupied cursing the chap who was using this thread to show off his current lifestyle. :)

Cheers

Post 753...

All these years you are the one working harder and earning more, so I think it is only fair that you get to retire first while he has to work harder to make up for the lost income he should have made earlier. I'm sure even though his job is not so stable, he should be able to make at least $60k pa, which is enough since you could get your passive income from your rentals if you stay in JB. If you earn $4k pm from rental and $5k pm for his pay, in total you get $9k pm, which is RM22k pm. No problem living a good life in JB with this kind of money.

Ah yes I see it now, I've been reading post 753 onward.

Your liquid usable cash works out to be
50K (cash) + 40K (Stocks) + 160K (CPF although not call can be used) +20K (SRS) = 270K

Value of Property = 1.8 + 630K + 380K = 2.81 M
Cash Flow = 250K
Total Loans = 1.37 M
Value/Loan = 48%

I would say your current position is comfortable given the two of you are working and can cover the debt obligations. Unfortunately none of your assets are providing any return at the moment and your biggest asset is your home.

So long as you keep working you should be able to weather out some minor/major property correction despite your current savings. But if one of you lose your job and the market took a hit then the story would be quite different.

I won't sayif retiring in Msia is the right step to take, however I feel that you need to shed some debt and put more money into your rainy day fund. I would say at least 300K in cash (exc CPF) and 20 - 30% less debt would be ideal.

And if your are serious about wanting to live in Msia and have a property based passive fund then your should sell your landed and buy condos which give more yield. Your target is higher passive monthly income and not long term capital appreciation. You need to decide on which is your priority and act accordingly.

I can you thought are thinking of selling your terrace you're actually more keen on keeping it, we also have a landed Semi D that I rent out, its worth about 6 - 7 M and I get about 7.5K for it (pathetic). Every time an issue crops up (air con, plumbing, curtains) etc I am looking at a minimum 4 digit bill if lucky its low if unlucky its high. so consider your ancillary cost too.

We can debate to death but at the end of the day it your choice, when 2019 comes move to JB if you like if your savings vs debt has not improve I will not recommend quitting your jobs mainly because you are at thin line if economy takes a downturn. Why don't you move to JB and setup the various bases then review your situation after your properties TOPs and you rent out your terrace. Then you will know if your plan works or not long term, worse case you can always move back no harm or foul. We are all driven by circumstance so consider yours and decide carefully.

Tidal wave of property supply hits S’pore

September 23, 2014

Investors should sell their residential investments in Singapore. The property market, which has been gradually declining, does not need any new action to tip it over. Just the sheer number of new homes being supplied both in Singapore and Iskandar will drive prices lower.

New private home sales in Singapore have plunged in the past three months to about 40 per cent of the monthly average of the past five years or so.

Since January 2010, the average number of homes sold by developers each month has exceeded 1,300 units. The total number of new homes sold in June, July and August were 531, 560 and 490, respectively, including executive condominiums (EC). Excluding the hybrid housing type, the respective numbers were 482, 509, and 432, respectively, Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) and Century 21 (IPA) data showed.

Given seasonal factors, such as the Hungry Ghost Month and the quadrennial football World Cup, the three months of dismal private home sales will not be sufficient to render the residential sector a bear market. However, the downward trend can be confirmed by several other indicators.

The Housing and Development Board (HDB)’s resale price index, which has a direct impact on mass market private properties, has fallen 5.4 per cent over the past four quarters.

During the same period, the URA’s private residential price index slipped 3.4 per cent. The weakness is also reflected in the rental market, where median private non-landed rentals eased 1.1 per cent in the past four quarters to S$3.79 psf per month. Meanwhile, private residential occupancy rates fell to 92.9 per cent in the second quarter of this year from 93.9 per cent in the third quarter of last year. In absolute terms, the number of vacant units increased to 21,268 in the second quarter of this year from 17,459 in the third quarter of last year.

Taken together, it is evident that we experienced a slow decline over the past year. Will this gradual weakening lead to a soft landing? Or are we about to fall off the edge of a cliff? As a practising real estate agent, I find it tougher to hold up high rents for landlords. With the rising vacancy rates amid a stream of newly-completed properties, the competition for tenants is intense, especially with the Government tightening foreign employment.

Although some landlords have yet to tune themselves to this new reality, others have reacted quickly ahead of next year’s record high supply, which will further pressure rents.

Supply of HDB, EC UNITS and Private Residences

In the past 10 years, Singapore has added about 8,000 new private residential units per year. But next year, we can expect about 22,000 units to be completed and 24,000 the year after and at least 16,000 in 2017. The pressure on rents will be overwhelming. Lifting the property curbs will not help fill vacant apartments and improve rents.

The expected supply of new HDB flats and ECs is large as well. More than 25,000 units will be completed every year over the next three years. There are also many second-time new HDB buyers and those who are upgrading to ECs who are required by law to sell their current HDB flats when they collect the keys to their new flats or ECs. Unless a few of the cooling measures are lifted and the foreigner employment policies are relaxed, the HDB Resale Price Index and the URA Residential Price Index are set to decline at a faster pace with the onslaught of new, completed home completions, even after taking into account the need for infrastructure to keep pace with population growth.

Supply in Iskandar

We must also not forget the promise of lower-cost properties across the Causeway in Iskandar.

The numerous Iskandar residential projects launched in Singapore since 2010, in locations such as Puteri Harbour, Danga Bay, Tebrau, Medini, etc, are now being completed.

They are ready to compete for tenants from Singapore seeking to reduce their housing costs and who do not mind making the commute between the countries. I estimate that over the next four years, about 10,000 new homes will be added per year in Iskandar and some of these will find tenants from Singapore with their attractive rents.

In the past six months, there has been an increase in the number of mortgagee home sales, with several headline-grabbing ones involving luxury condominiums in Sentosa Cove and the prime District 9. During the luxury property boom from 2006 to 2008, about 60 per cent of top-end apartments were purchased by foreigners. Some have held on to their investments, but they are now feeling stifled as a result of the multiple rounds of cooling measures, weak property demand and the restricted ability to refinance under the current regime.

For those who are willing to take a long-term view, say, 15 years and beyond, landed homes and high-quality freehold properties in Districts 9 and 10 would remain safe bets as these sub-segments are limited in terms of current stock and future supply.

As for now and the immediate future, as I forecast in a commentary in this column last year (“The price war has begun”, Nov 8, 2013), sellers are lowering prices and this will continue to take its toll on investors.

I recommend that investors sell their residential investments before they are engulfed by the tidal wave of new supply.

By Ku Swee Yong – a licensed real estate agent and the chief executive of property agency Century 21 Singapore. An author of two bestsellers, Real Estate Riches and Building Real Estate Riches, he has just launched his third book, Real Estate Realities — Accommodating The Investment Needs Of Today’s Society.

Source : Today – 19 Sep 2014

Actually, people will not want to stay in JB due to:

1. High security risks. Is saving a thousand dollars a month worth the life of your family and loved ones?

2. Big traffic jams. Is it worth it to make your children wake up at 4am and they leave home at 5am and reach home at 9pm? How to rest and study when they are so tired?

3. Expats will not want to risk their lives by renting in JB.

The reality is:

1. People will still live in Singapore. They will save cost by not owning a car (costs $2000 per month to own and use).

2. Expats rather pay more to live peacefully in Singapore. Anyway they are paid high salaries to work and live in Singapore, not JB. They also can't afford to waste hours in traffic jams at both checkpoints.

3. People value life more than money.

I am not very inclined to accept his view cos as property agent, buy or sell, i will make a commission. And I feel that the low levels of transactions in this property market has been worrying many agents instead of the real buyer/sellers of the property market.

My view on the reason for this low levels of transactions is that it affirms that many property holders have done proper planning and can so far maintain their property/debt/cashflow levels despite slight drop in property prices. Banks also have not started calling for top up due to this price drop or increase drastically their interest rate. So there is no mass panic. Even Government intervention have also not been so drastic todate to create this mass panic and govt have clearly said that this is not the intention as well.

At the current level of prices, buyers are also not willing fork out to buy a property because of all these news of overwhelming supply unless there is a real need. The lower rental yields have also made this a less "sure win" investments and coupled with all the negative news in the world, other alternative investments with lower capital outlay have become more attractive.

What we are seeing in the market now may be the "truer" fundamental demand/supply level of transactions which makes sense as singapore is a small country/population . The years before this were just noise in the market created because property was deemed as a attractive investment.

Any bros feel the same way ?

I agree with you totally. It is especially unsafe for ladies, in particular single ladies to live in JB.

There are many singles, expats as well as Malaysians who work in Singapore, who prefer to rent in a Woodlands condo than in JB. This is a compromise between the expensive Singapore city condo and the cheap but unsafe JB condo.

In Woodlands, you can easily rent a one bedroom condo for only $1,600 pm. This is cheaper than a city condo which is rented out at $3,500 pm. Just search in Propertyguru and you can find so many cheap Woodlands condo for rent.

27yo, single, no debt but the occasional credit card debt cleared @ month-end, have worked for almost 2.5 yrs.

- 10k in SG stocks (approx.)
- 20k in cash (approx.)


lost money by (foolishly) investing in the wrong things while in school - now i adopt an investment approach, to find the right stocks to act as a money sink (scouring for "undervalued" stocks with good balance sheet/cashflow, potential long/mid-term appreciation in stock price or potential acquisition targets) and to hold some cash in case of an opportunity.

also actively trying to look at short-term trading opportunities for the tickers that i "cover". i'm quite risk-averse so i do smaller trades and only doing so if i'm very comfortable.

no opinion on property market since my networth doesn't afford me much.

with SGX reducing board-lots from 1000 to 100... it will certainly set the path for liquidity, reduced brokerage fees with the likes of SCB (hopefully) for small fishes like me and more stocks to look at.

12 yo $50 cash.

7 year old, 3 silver coin. My daddy says that silver is cheap now.

Poor man rich baby
 

3months old. 12k in my baby bonus account. Papa said shd be Thanksful for the govt that give me a head start for my age.

Enough already. So irritating.

To buy or not to buy
 

We have been waiting on the side line for the property price to drop further, but the down trend is slight and not consistent. We have our eyes on a newly completed condo near an MRT. The price of the unit size we want is still way higher than the launch price 4 years ago, although it has stopped going up since the TDSR.

With the gahmen saying that they will now cut down on land sale, we are not sure whether we should wait any longer. Even the HDB BTO supply will be reduced. It is clear the gahmen don't want the prices to drop too much.

Likewise for car COE. Now we also not sure if we should wait till next year when our current COE expire or to change car now for the new year. There was a lot of talk that there will be bumper crop of COEs next year, but the gahmen is cutting car growth to 0.25%. And with many people still wanting to buy a car after scrapping their old ones, it looks like COE prices also not going to go down much if at all.

So to buy or not to buy?

You should count in your cpf money as well ... At least for the ordinary account funds ..

If it is to stay, then it doesn't make a difference.

Look at affordability instead. If you can afford it (now and also the future mortgage payments), then go ahead!

i consider my CPF contribution (and employer contribution) as taxes - taxes paid today for future government benefits that i may enjoy ("pension", housing, medical, etc).

that's a 20% salary haircut already, on top of the bit of tax to pay Q1 every here. so to foreigners who complain of high taxes in their countries, we aren't so different i guess.

ways to use CPF monies, lock-up, rates of returns, etc. are subjected to the government's whims - an asset is no longer an asset if you have no control of it... thence my view of CPF as above.

Career and Investment
 

Hi friends,

I'm new on to this forum and keen to know more and exchange experience with working professionals on career development.


Secondly, It's been always in my mind to pick up some knowledge about investments and not too sure where do i start about. May i have some guides and advices?

I'm sure there are many of you from different level of knowledge and well-versed in investments. Thank you in advance.

Have a nice day!:):):)

married: 34 with 2 young toddlers
HDB flat worth $400k, loan 250k
Combined Cash + stocks $180k
Combined CPF OA & SA:$30k
No car

Are we considered little saving? Thanks

The more important question is are you happy with your life? Are you happy with your work and how your career is progressing?

If you are happy, dont go and compare here and there. There will always be someone doing better than you. The quickest way to destroy happiness is to compare with others and find that they are doing better, are richer, have nice cars, big homes, travel business class and have special privileges.

I have a colleague who was so happy receiving his bonus that he gave his other colleagues a treat only to find out later that among the 5 of them, all the others have higher bonuses. He immediately became moody and angry.

I own a flat worth $400k, mortgage remaining $200k.
My cash and cpf in total, $100k.
Is this ok? I am 35.

Singapore has one of the highest savings rate in the world

Rate is pegged at 24%.

According to Barclays, despite Singapore’s higher level of household debt to GDP, they believe Singapore households are more defensive than Hong Kong households in the event of liquidity outflow and potential asset quality deterioration of the consumer book.

This is because of Singapore’s high savings rate, access to CPF funds to repay housing debt and high proportion of liquid household assets (in currency and deposits).

Here's more from Barclays:

Singapore has one of the highest savings rates in the world at 24%, behind China and India, which arguably have less developed social security systems and pension schemes.

In comparison, Hong Kong’s savings rate is only 14%. As a result, we believe Singaporeans are better positioned to better tap into accumulated wealth to repay debt.

While property assets account for the bulk of household assets (49% of total), the proportion of liquid assets, namely cash and deposits, continues to rise and accounted for 19% of total household assets in Singapore in 2013.

Household cash and deposits relative to household debt has risen from 0.8x in 2002 to 1.2x, implying that households have a much stronger capacity to repay debt with liquid assets.

Singapore’s strong liquidity household assets to debt position provides an additional buffer to a potential debt servicing problems in the event of an economic downturn or when interest rates rise, in our view.

Both husband & wife in Early 40's.

Cash = 16k
CPF = 155k
Stocks = 100k

Combine income = 96k per annum

4 room HDB (fully paid)
Car loan = 1k per month (fully paid in another 4yrs time)

Recently bought a shoe box unit at 680k for investment.
How healthy are we in our finances?

You have done pretty well since you own two properties. Not many families own multiple properties. How much loan did you take for your condo? Are you both local graduates?

Yes, both of us are local Graduates.
We took a 80% loan.

Your combined net worth would be about $800k assuming your flat is now worth $400k. By the time you retire in 25 years time, your sources of passive income are:

1. Rental from condo (paid up at 65) maybe $3k pm.
2. CPF Life maybe $1.5k each or $3k pm combined.
3. Allowance from children $1k pm combined.
4. Room rental from HDB flat, $1k per room or $2k for 2 rooms.
5. Stocks dividends $12k pa or $1k pm.

Total passive income $10k pm.
Expenses (just two retired persons) $4k pm (assume no maid and no car).
Savings $6k pm (reinvested in dividend stocks to give higher dividend income).

Summary: You are a high achiever and will retire well.

Husband and Wife :Early 40s (Both Working)

Combine Cash : 1.8M
CPF (OA and SA) :450K
House : Loan 2.4 M, Value 5 M (Paper Profit from properties about 2M after flipping 2 properties to the current one)

Looking to diversify into passive income (Mixture of bonds, fd and trading). Time to let the money work for us instead of the other way round.

You can both retire or be your own boss so that you don't have to be a slave to someone else, worse if he is younger than you.

Sell your landed and downgrade to a $850k condo. Invest the balance of $4m in 5% dividend yield blue chip stocks to give you a passive income of $200k pa. If your expenses is $100k pa, you can save and reinvest $100k pa. By the time you reach 65, your net worth will be $10m. You will be a multi millionaire.

Sounds cool... What if there is another scenario:

We sell the shoebox condo in 5 to 6 years time & re-invest in a much higher property.. say approx. 900k.

Bearing in mind our current age & the reduction in CPF contribution comes 55 years. What would our financial health status be like?

Not a good idea. The more expensive the condo the higher the risk. Focus on clearing the mortgage. Once you own the shoebox without any loan, you can sleep in peace even if you both lost your jobs.

What are you both working as? Which sectors? How secure are your jobs?

I put $38k to stock in 2012. Now my portfolio has grown to $130k. I have done some shifting here and there.
So i think it is better to put more "idle" cash into stock to let it grows.