Net worth? Mine is negative.
 

After reading the post by the many people here, I really feel ashamed of myself, but I am facing up to it.

My story :

Started work at 21 in a stat board since 15 years ago.
When I started out, I did not know how to manage my money, and end up in a debt trap with all the credit lines and cards.

Now, after struggling with the debts for 10years now, I am finally seeing light, as I am now able to clear them all by next year end.

Marriage, two kids, in-laws staying with us in our executive flat, and a car for the family prolonged my debt clearing misery. I did not want my wife to get involved in my debt, and I am doing everything on my own.

I did not go for credit counselling, clearing my debts in a determined and disciplined manner made me a better person. My IR8E said I earn slightly over 100k last year, and I need till Dec 2012 to clear my remaining 50k of debt.

I am a shame, and I deserve your mockery, but going through all these takes a fair bit of mental strength, 10 years at that.

I am envious of your net worth, I know I am lagging far behind, but I am surviving this ordeal, with a happy family behind me.

you are earning 100k and you are in debt?

i believe you but seriously... i am abit shocked, because i'm earning only 3k and aged 34 somemore and i have about $175k.

i'm not saying that to scorn or what, but i just thought... just 2 years of savings (including bonuses), u would have saved more than me in 15 years!

but i guess you must have enjoyed your life to the fullest when you were younger. i didn't. so, take a brighter side of life...

at least you have a car and an exe flat. I'm only living in a 4 rm.

If you are in debt, that means you didn't take advantage of the investment opportunities during dotcom crash, SARS and the recent global financial crisis. Even though you earn more, you lose out to those who earn less but are savvy to save up and took advantage to buy low and sell high.

You only made the banks and bankers rich. Sadly, there will be more people like you. Banks get richer, so do bank shareholders (savvy investors), while debtors like the former you get poorer.

Fortunately you finally see the light. Good luck and all the best. Hope to hear your success story one day.

I don't know what to say.

I believe you will be able to catch up later, once you have settled all your debt, and if you continue to perservere. You have a good foundation - earning capacity which should continue to grow and a property. Good luck!

Thanks for all the replies. Yup, one mistake after another when I was younger. Banks definitely got richer. If I had been wiser when I was younger, I would have been better off now. Actually, I didn't really enjoyed much before I was in big trouble. At its worst, I was closed to 90k in debt when my annual income was 50k. Rolled over interest and the minimum payment alone ate into my expenses, after cpf deduction.

My resilience kept me out of bankruptcy, my family gave me the strength to carry on.

To those who are on the opposite end of my situation, I understand you may not know what to say, and I respect you for being on the other side. To those who are walking my old path, don't.

To the guy who earns 3k and age 34, what you said about my two years' savings is only possible if I do not need to spend at all. My annual 100k included cpf, bonuses, car instalment, parents, kids, utilities, internet, etc. Of course, I would have more savings than you if not for my screw-up when younger.
I never took what you said as being scornful, it is the truth. Prudence go a long way, and that is where it got you now. You have my respect.

If there is one regret in my life, the mistakes I've made when I was younger will top it.

There is no regret pill in this world.

Out of my 6k take home pay now, 1k goes to car, 3k goes to debt, 2k goes to monthly expenditure.

Your fixed expenditure of 2k is lower than what I thought, considering your priorities in the upper posts (parents, kids, wife, util, etc.).

If possible, you may wish to re-finance your loans to reduce the net interests charged on yourself.

Take my example: I was a fresh graduate in 2009 who just got into first job. Thus, I had study loan as my liabilities. (Approx 20k, at 4.75% interests rate) As months went on, I re-paid consistently $800 a month for about 1 year. Then an opportunity came: Balance transfer at promotional rate of 2.5% per annuam (only for 6 months). This came from bank issuer of my credit card.

Thus, I took the 10K balance transfer. I wrote 11K cheque to close my study loans. This saves almost half of interests rate by half, as well as the duration, and instead of paying 800 for another year to cover 10k (not counting interests), I cut payment time to 6 months. This forced myself to be more disciplined. (if i don't pay back by the end of 6th month, interest rate will jump to 16+% starting day 1 of 7th month).

Hence, I cleared my 20k loans in 18 months, and saved about 300 dollars of interests (comparing to previous plan of paying 800 consistently for slightly longer than 2 years).

Sometimes, creating new debts at lower costs is certainly better than holding on to old debts at high costs, as interest rates fluctuates with market conditions.

Good luck, bro! PS: I'm still not married, so that makes it easier to be disciplined.

I wish, but you would have guessed by now that my credit status is in the slums, and I will not be able to get fresh loans.

This balance transfer instrument, was what contributed to my problems cos I was not disciplined.

The interests charged are horrible! I bet you were getting 20%++ charged at some point, right?

These creditors of yours are legal loan sharks. Some say they charge even more than ah beng loan sharks and are less ethical and less moral. Just look at their enticing advertisements. At least, illegal loan sharks don't advertise :)

Someone else said the only good debt in this world, if at all, is mortgage debt. And it's always much better to be a creditor than a debtor. Be a bond holder or a shareholder!