Age:26 , retired , cash: 50k , Stocks: 100k, Unit trust: 150k, SGS Bond: 350k. Living by myself at fully paid condo.

I shared similar view on shares but not property. A real ******** will claim other is ********ing. You can just simply ignore them.

I hope to enter the stock market when it is coming down but would still purchase a property for long term (to pass on to the next generation).

Can you advice what stocks to look out for?

Thkq

UFxS ilaut
 

IMHO, I take a view of property in sgp as an expense rather an asset, regardless how many you own. Merely looking at the annual reports of banks, you will see most people buy sgp properties using loans, which indirectly means they don't own an asset but rather a liability. Also, for a planet that is 1 billion billion square meter bigger than the amount of land in sgp, it just doesn't make sense to own anything on the granite rock.

Secondly, during 1970s, a semi-D cost SGD100k when the M2 money supply is small and a bowl of fishball noodle is a mere 1 dollar or so. Now with inflation and so much money printed, a same semi-D cost SGD 2-3million dollars. If we take a linear extrapolation of this perspective, wouldn't the future property cost even higher making your children and children's children life unbearable even though they have a roof over their head. And should you take mortgage on this property, the actual cost of owning the place will be pointless since it looks like you only rented a place rather than buying it for inflation protection.

Thirdly, as a open economy running out of ideas to innovate and produce the next Bill Gates or Steve Jobs, running casinos become the last option. So unless, again IMHO, I can see a future with real productive economic value, owning properties in sgp is merely a way to lock you down on the granite rock (live the singaporean 5C dream whatsoever0 so that you have a feeling of sense of belonging even when the sky falls down on you. There is also a saying, when an economy starts building grand great buildings and infrastructure to empitomize its existance, it is the start of the downfall.

So being conservative, i rather be liquid and mobile, when it is time to leave, just like our ancestor from africa as ape, to china as chinese, to sgp as singaporean, it is time to leave. With decent cash hoard, renting and living anywhere in this world is pretty easy.

Until the end, we are mere atoms and molecules, monetary and status are pure human emotions and senses brought about to satisfy our own greed for better everything.

As for stocks, pardon me, I am not a licensed financial advisor. So no comment from me.

Live long and prosper. Good Luck.

You Are What You Think
 

You Are What You Think

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As painted, an individual has been working for 10 years after graduated and currently has a net worth of say $1,000,000 mainly in cash and various investments vechicles, (I would exclude properties). The logical way of thinking about achieving that would be: Divide that 1 million dollars by those 10 years and you have $100k per annum. You can then carry on to divide that $100k by 12 months to get about $8.3K per month - the amount that one needs to SAVE (yes, needing to earn even More to be able to do so!) every month for 10 straight years just to get a million dollars.

Sounds impossible to you? Well, impossibleto me I would say! At least, I have yet come across anyone who has done that.

Notice that I did not say that it is impossible to make that $1 million. The impossibility I mentioned about was taking that $8.3k-per-month-path to make it. Just by thinking about it already renders it impossible! So, what else more can you expect?

A shackled state of mind is more likely.

Wealth is never created in that manner - in equal proportions, nicely and evenly spread over a fixed period of time. Rather, wealth is accumuated in a rather unconventional and in a very uneven fashion. Mostly, a little at the very beginning and at later stage, in multiple folds, with each time greater than the previous time.

And usually before that can happen, the state of a (wealthy) mind needs to be set correctly. The paradigm: One must first Believe, and by believing, the possibilities of getting those which you want (or "who you want to become" as I would prefer to call it) will then more likely be drawn to you.

To attain great wealth, how about begin by having a healthy and positive mind? Always be mindful and selective with your own thoughts, choosing only those which are supportive and more likely to propel you in the direction you desire to move towards.

You become what you think of. Change the way you think and you change who you become too. Break that habitual train of thoughts and let the magic take place by its own.

2 Cents

35 yrs old. single. o level only. mthly 3.1k as supervisor. staying with parents in a landed property which may be mine someday because single child but not banging on it as it is belonged to my parents and up to them to decide what to do with it.

on hand only 235k in cash and stock. no car no outstanding loan etc. spent too much on socializing i think. not sure if want to settle down as the cost of raising a family is high here, even my girlfriend also scare. thought it is good to just be together as of now. with such little money, future looks bad. :(

The great wealth divide.
 

It is hard to say who is bulls***ting and who is not. However, I would not be too quick to rubbish what people write here claiming their wealth. Not many people are aware that the income or wealth gap in Singapore is really big. The rich are very rich and the poor - well there are many of us.

If I were to place myself at the point when I started out work some 20 odd years ago, I would never imagine being be able to own a condo earning just $1.6K a month. But now, after more than 20 years of slogging, and very disciplined savings, I find believable what people are claiming what they have and owned.

Just looking at myself starting off at very low base, my wife and I are now owning a fully paid up 4 bedroom condo (staying in), 2 x cars (fully paid), 1 x condo for rental (fully paid) and $2M of cash and stocks.

Yes, it is true that hard work and saving will get you there.

I glad to learn that there are many ppl out there who made it. And this motivate me to work harder and learn not to be complacent.

Kudos!

reality check
 

Singapore is much like the US where one can realise the good life (politics aside), no matter what social strata you started off from.

A simplified calculation below will show how a couple (possibly graduates) both working and starting a family young and with a first HDB home would fare financially through the years (20 yrs timeframe is used here).


Combined income Expense Savings
Monthly Annual (over 5 year blocks)
(with 3 mths
bonus)

1 to 5 years 6,000 90,000 40,000 250,000
5 to 10 years 9,000 135,000 75,000 375,000
10 to 15 years 13,000 195,000 80,000 575,000
15 to 20 years 15,000 232,500 85,000 737,500

Total saved over 20 years $1,937,500


And this is based purely on simple savings without interest and investment! If they are savvy and profited from their heavily subsidised HDB flat, and other investment returns, they could double or triple their stash! I tend to believe the above example is a very conservative one. Many couples would be earning much more!

Dudes, My wife and I are just over 50 years old and we each have over $900K in our CPF accounts (some in stocks and unit trusts) giving us savings of $1.9m through CPF alone! While its true that we both maxed out our contributions for the past 20 years and had a bit of success in the past investing CPF in stocks, most of it was just simply savings for the past 25 years since we started working.

Our combined SRS accounts are about $300K in value. We have been contributing since day 1 and have steadily invested in stocks since the scheme started. We're not agressive investors either.

So If you add our CPF and SRS, its around $2.2m already.... Even our combined CPF special account is around $280K. We have always tried to max out the special account since it earns 4%.

So everyone can be a millionaire through CPF and SRS :)

You're joking right? CPF money is not your money! I never consider my CPF balance as part of my wealth. I can't spend it!

So what if you have millions in CPF and SRS? It's the cash that matters. Now, if you tell me you have an equal amount in cash, then it's something to be proud of.