I poorest
Age:40
Rent a 2 room hdb.
No bank account
No car
No hp
Cash of 150million in room cupboard.
Take out 5k to spend everyday
Hope to finish spending all by 75yo.

It was quite amusing reading the posts here. I see many just couldn't believe there could be rich people posting here. Of course, you could never tell which of the posts are true. In Sunday Times, an Indian lady was featured sharing her financial investment journey. At aged 41, she and her architect husband have investment properties in several countries. Their average return was reported to be 8% pa. Their target passive income is $250k pa before they will retire. Although she didn't say what the current passive income was, she said it was well on track to reach their goal. I imagined if she had shared her story here, many doubters will immediately cooked up outlandish stories of their own.

This phenomenon is a direct effect of the growing income divide in Singapore. On one side we have the rich getting richer and the poor remaining clueless. The asset class sees their assets appreciating steadily while at the same time deriving passive income yearly. The rich also tend to see their savings accelerate simply because of the compounding effects of their passive incomes if their expenses are held constant.

The poor on the other hand, especially if they are not exposed to rich people, could not possibly imagine or understand how anyone could save or grow their worth upwards of $300k pa, when they themselves don't earn half that amount in a year.

While we cannot be fully equal, I just hoped that we don't reach the state of affairs as in the US where just 400 of the country's wealthiest own half of the nation's wealth!

As a retiree, I do feel shaky about my ability to sustain my lifestyle as inflation steadily erodes the purchasing power of my fixed annuity payout. I have already done away with the maid, the car and other extraganzes. Constantly on my mind is whether I should go out and get myself a job. Mind you, when I retired, I thought I had everything nicely planned out. There was this annuity that will pay me a fixed income for as long as I lived. I didn't bargain for taxi fares increasing, train fares increasing, hawker meal prices increasing, utility bills increasing and what have you.

You need to invest in assets that keep pace with inflation! Property and stocks in dynamic and sound companies are what I should have invested in. The property you stay is not counted as you need somewhere to live. And the older you get, the less you want to uproot and move. What more to a smaller abode among strangers. So to all posters out there, downgrading to a smaller home should not form part of your retirement plan. Only as a last resort.

And yes, coming to this forum and reading all the amusing bull"*****ing" has become a cost free pastime for me. Can't afford those with paid membership.

Her salary as a private banker should be at least 300k, more if she is a executive director or MD level. Assuming her husband earns at similar level, total combined salary is at least 600k.

If they spend 250k and invest 350k a year in past 8 years, their pot can grow to around 5mm easily, especially in past few years when there is huge asset inflation on fed, boj, boe, eub massive money printing.

Earning 5% on 5mm is 250k

Don't rot your life away, do something worthwhile in your life. Go for projects to save the world's poor. There are millions and millions of destitutes waiting for you to save them.

Why worry so much about your retirement. Go to a cheaper country and retire. You have more than enough. Millions survive on $2 per day. Your are the most fortunate people on earth to have assets such as HDB flat. Be happy.

I'm an average Joe, keen on picking the brains of the many successful people here.


Debt= 1.2 mil
Savings= 150k
Income= 120k p.a.
Passive income: 80 k p.a.


I wonder if this is the time to deleverage. As you can see, I'm rather highly geared vis-à-vis my relatively low (work) income.

Don't give up this debt for 2 reasons:

1. That you are making higher returns from it than the interest rate that you have to pay. (If this is not the case, then you should pare it down)

2. It is not easy nowadays to get such leverage of 10x your annual income.

In the current climate of low loan interest rates and high inflation rates, it is the borrowers who stand to gain. A $1m of loan in 10 yrs will only be worth $700k+, just due to inflation.

So if you are able to put that $1.2m in an investment that can minimally keep up with inflation, you would already gain. Stocks and shares are quite easily beat inflation.

Average Joe,

You are in deep sh.it. Who is your stupid financial advisor?
You are super overleveraged. You must sell what ever you have to reduce your debt.
If you are living in a condo, you better sell and buy a 4 room HDB flat.
When interest rates rise, you will be in big trouble.
Don't listen to foolish people.

People like you will sit one corner and wonder why some people are so rich. Clueless.

Ordinary folks work throughout their lives, earn ordinary wages and have average wealth.

Rich people use money to make money. The skillful ones use other people's money (through banks) to make money.

The above responses to the poster who sought advise on whether to cut his debt are very classic examples of the mindsets separating people who will stay ordinary and those who will likely make it big.

The ordinary person will only see risks, negative scenarios and is so paralyzed by his fear, while the positive guy will see opportunities.

For eg., the guy suggesting the poster hold on to the debt knows it is not easy to obtain such loans (10x the annual income), so since he already got it, should take advantage of it to generate more returns. If he can generate a return higher than the loan interest, he already wins on two fronts. The value of the loan will decrease with time just by inflation alone.

The other guy, besides seeing only negative scenarios also displayed typical loser mentality by trying to blame the financial advisor and name calling.

Don't believe? See this: 8 Ways the Rich Differ From the Poor | Code of Living

Stupid fool, who are you? Do you know about risk management? It is people like you who will crash the system with your irresponsible and selfish nonsense. Why does MAS bother to have measures such as TDSR? It is to protect ignorant fools who want to overleverage.