How much savings do you have?

Originally Posted by Unregistered

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.

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.

Originally Posted by networth

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

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

Originally Posted by Unregistered

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?

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?

Originally Posted by Unregistered

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.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

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.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

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?

Originally Posted by Unregistered

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

Originally Posted by Unregistered

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

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

Originally Posted by Unregistered

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?

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...