Whats your net worth

$200K per annum, age 37, family of 5 and sole breadwinner.

Net worth $2.7M

It is wise to aim to retire late, and $4m net worth is a reasonable target. Should be achievable, with dual income barring unforeseen circumstances.

Your wife is very astute as well, and she is right that a household income of $183k pa for a couple in their early 40s is average for your age group (professionals).

However you need to watch your expenses. $143k pa is on the high side. How come so high?

When we were in our 40s, our net worth was around $2.4m. Now in our mid 50s, we are close to hitting our $5m target. And our expenses are only around $110k pa. We are disciplined savers, saving 75% of our income and putting them into investment regularly.

Some food for thought. When i was younger, i also planned to retire at 62, but now I am not so sure. Your mind and body are not so good at taking the stress anymore as you age. Some more the stress level goes up with increased responsibility. You come to a point where you start to think that you have saved enough, slog enough and it is time to think of yourself, your health, and all those that you wanted to do but put off because of work, family and other commitments.

Thus to give yourself more option, it is prudent to save/invest. The more savings you have the more option you have - like retiring and living life when you feel like it.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Married couple with two kids. Early 40s. Combined annual income $183k, annual expenditure $143k, annual savings $40k. Current net worth $2.5m. We plan to work for another 20 years and then retire. By then we should have a combined net worth of $4m. My wife always remind me that we are only average Singaporean workers, so she make sure I don't buy a continental car. So I bought a resale, small Asian car.

Congrats, I think you both are on the right track towards retirement. However, just a word of caution. While we can plan, be prepared for unforeseen circumstances. For me, i used to be earning $300k pa while my wife was earning $100k pa. We had the good life, we live in a nice condo, drove a 5 series, bought luxury goods, European holidays, etc. But one year ago, my health suddenly deteriorated. The rich food, high stress and the sins of alcohol and tobacco caused me to be very sick. I had to quit my job, stopped smoking, drinking, etc. Our finances plunged. Luckily I had some good investments which gave me a passive income of $50k pa, and with my wife's $100k salary, we survived. I sold my 5 series, downgraded our holidays and we cut our spending to $80k pa. I find much solace and peace now. It made me realize the world is just a temporary place, we will all die one day. Now, at the age of 41, I am nursing myself back to health. I also discovered who my true friends are. I may not live long, but I am now truly happy. I wish you both well, if I die tomorrow, just know that money does not buy happiness.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Married couple with two kids. Early 40s. Combined annual income $183k, annual expenditure $143k, annual savings $40k. Current net worth $2.5m. We plan to work for another 20 years and then retire. By then we should have a combined net worth of $4m. My wife always remind me that we are only average Singaporean workers, so she make sure I don't buy a continental car. So I bought a resale, small Asian car.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

I am now 55 years old and retired. I have finished paying the mortgage for my 4 room HDB flat. I earn a passive dividend income of $2,000 per month from my stocks investments. My wife, 50, is still working, earning $4,000 per month. We spend $3,500 per month. Our combined net worth, including of flat, is about $800k. I invest in the stock market actively, do the household chores, cook and go to market to buy groceries. We don't have a maid and we don't have a car. We use the bus and MRT and sometimes taxi. Because I got no debt, I spend mainly on food and utilities.

Keep it up. I'm 55 and doing all those chores too.

By April next year, I would have worked 30 yrs. I would also be 55 then. Having participated in a marathon before, I could not help but find similarities between the two.

You start with a vision, an aim that you want to do well. For your career, you aimed to be somebody, to be still consulted when you are in your sixties for your experience and wisdom. For the marathon, your main aim is to complete the run, then you want to do it within certain number of hours.

The first 5 yrs, you are enthusiastic and energetic. The first 5 km, your body warms up and you feel good. The next 5 to 10 yrs, you established yourself, get promoted and gets to lead your own team. Things are looking good. The next 5 to 10 km, you settled into your rhythm, and you begin to cruise. At this stage in both your career and marathon, you feel like you could go on forever.

In the next 10 to 20 yrs, you begin to be exposed to more office politics as you are given more responsibilities and have to look after your staff's interest as well. Your stress level goes up but still manageable because you still have bosses to shield you. At the 10 to 20 km distance, your body acts up more. You start to wonder if you could really finish the run, not to mention completing it within your target time. At this point in your career, you will also see some of your friends / cohort quit the rat race. At this stage of the run, you see lots of people walking, people dropping out of the race altogether.

From 20 to 25 yrs, you see your career coming to a plateau. You realized you are 50, not so marketable anymore. Your body also not so tolerant of the stress. You start to think maybe that's enough. At 25 km, you probably would have hit the runner's wall. You want to give up.

Now coming to 30 yrs of work, you become more philosophical, you also look at your bank account more. You tell yourself maybe 5 more years and that's it. At 30km, your body is like not yours. You have been walking a lot. You asked why you are doing this to yourself.

My point is, many people say they will work till 65, 70 etc, but the reality can be very different. My bet is many will quit by 55 if not earlier.

Since your net worth is already $5m, you should just quit. Sell your bungalow and buy a cheap $800k studio or one bedroom condo in the Jurong region. J Gateway is selling only $800k, very cheap. You can retire comfortably. With $4m, you can invest at 5%, gives you $200k per year. With high stress of work, there is a high possibility of dying at 60 years old. I see many senior executives dying in their 50s and 60s as they have high stress, they drink and smoke and womanize. So, you should repent, stop all the sins and retire peacefully.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

By April next year, I would have worked 30 yrs. I would also be 55 then. Having participated in a marathon before, I could not help but find similarities between the two.

You start with a vision, an aim that you want to do well. For your career, you aimed to be somebody, to be still consulted when you are in your sixties for your experience and wisdom. For the marathon, your main aim is to complete the run, then you want to do it within certain number of hours.

The first 5 yrs, you are enthusiastic and energetic. The first 5 km, your body warms up and you feel good. The next 5 to 10 yrs, you established yourself, get promoted and gets to lead your own team. Things are looking good. The next 5 to 10 km, you settled into your rhythm, and you begin to cruise. At this stage in both your career and marathon, you feel like you could go on forever.

In the next 10 to 20 yrs, you begin to be exposed to more office politics as you are given more responsibilities and have to look after your staff's interest as well. Your stress level goes up but still manageable because you still have bosses to shield you. At the 10 to 20 km distance, your body acts up more. You start to wonder if you could really finish the run, not to mention completing it within your target time. At this point in your career, you will also see some of your friends / cohort quit the rat race. At this stage of the run, you see lots of people walking, people dropping out of the race altogether.

From 20 to 25 yrs, you see your career coming to a plateau. You realized you are 50, not so marketable anymore. Your body also not so tolerant of the stress. You start to think maybe that's enough. At 25 km, you probably would have hit the runner's wall. You want to give up.

Now coming to 30 yrs of work, you become more philosophical, you also look at your bank account more. You tell yourself maybe 5 more years and that's it. At 30km, your body is like not yours. You have been walking a lot. You asked why you are doing this to yourself.

My point is, many people say they will work till 65, 70 etc, but the reality can be very different. My bet is many will quit by 55 if not earlier.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Congrats, I think you both are on the right track towards retirement. However, just a word of caution. While we can plan, be prepared for unforeseen circumstances. For me, i used to be earning $300k pa while my wife was earning $100k pa. We had the good likeeping it for the next generation fe, we live in a nice condo, drove a 5 series, bought luxury goods, European holidays, etc. But one year ago, my health suddenly deteriorated. The rich food, high stress and the sins of alcohol and tobacco caused me to be very sick. I had to quit my job, stopped smoking, drinking, etc. Our finances plunged. Luckily I had some good investments which gave me a passive income of $50k pa, and with my wife's $100k salary, we survived. I sold my 5 series, downgraded our holidays and we cut our spending to $80k pa. I find much solace and peace now. It made me realize the world is just a temporary place, we will all die one day. Now, at the age of 41, I am nursing myself back to health. I also discovered who my true friends are. I may not live long, but I am now truly happy. I wish you both well, if I die tomorrow, just know that money does not buy happiness.

Health is wealth. ...this is always on everyone's mind but just not prioritizes till something went wrong with Health. not matter how much we wealth we accumulate, we eventually leave it to our next Gen, just like PATEK PHILLIP advertise. <you never actually own it, you are merely >

wish you luck, good health....

I see many posts here linked high income to poor health. This cannot be further from the truth.

People fall sick, get into ill health for many reasons. Very few people actually die from over working. But most of all, people lose their health because they don't take care of it. And it is not because they are busy earning big bucks.

People earning high incomes are actually very health conscious. Not only that, they also have access to and can afford better health care services. They are well informed about health issues, go for regular medical, eat well and do proper and regular exercises to maintain themselves.

While it is true that some people worked until their health are affected, these tend to happen to people in more hazardous kind of jobs which put strains on their bodies, expose them to harsh environmental conditions. And sadly these kind of jobs don't always pay well.

And for executive jobs, people who helm the leadership positions are capable people in the first place, able to do their jobs and handle the stress that come their way.

Health and wealth are both important. Usually it is the rich that have both.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Health is wealth. ...this is always on everyone's mind but just not prioritizes till something went wrong with Health. not matter how much we wealth we accumulate, we eventually leave it to our next Gen, just like PATEK PHILLIP advertise. <you never actually own it, you are merely >

wish you luck, good health....

Moderator - remove and ban the posts (posted today at 09:08am and 09:58 am) and the poster as well. He is using this forum to further his religion. This kind of behavior must be nipped in the bud.

I want to do currency trading online. How to go about?
open account in onada , dbs vickers or which one?
then next step is?
Thank you in advance.