Couple in late 40s. Owns a condo and shares. Total net worth $2.5m, including condo.
We hope our condo and shares value will continue to go up until we retire at 60.

Late 40s not young, not old. Retirement age now at 62 will likely be pushed up to 65. So plenty of time to continue to build up your nest egg.

Don't hope, but rather work towards your goal. If you have only 1 property and you are staying in it, any price appreciation will not really give you the cash flow you need in your retirement. You will be in an asset rich cash poor situation. Try and gun for an investment property. That way, you can derive rental income and still see the asset appreciating.

If both you and spouse are degree holders in executive positions, chances of your net worth growing to $4m and and above when in your 50s are high. This projection or trajectory is quite typical of professional couples who stayed in their jobs till retirement at 55 or later.

wife, 55. me, 50.
condo worth $1m, no loan.
shares worth $1m.
other assets worth $0.6m.
annual income $130k pa.

You have made it. You are a millionaire. I hope to join you too among the ranks of millionaires in a few years time. I'm in my mid 40s. Own a condo worth $3m with loan outstanding of $1m. My shares worth is only $500k. No other assets. Our combined family income is $300k pa.

Am I mistaken? Your combined net worth is 2.5m. That makes both you and your spouse millionaires.

While our combined net worth is indeed $2.5m, we are not millionaires. Millionaires as defined as those whose investable assets is worth more than $1m and it excludes your primary home. Our investable assets is only $500k, so we are not millionaires.

it's harder to compare this way, because there are millionaires who choose to stay in HDB while your family is staying in a $3m condo.

The convention to define whether a person is a millionaire or is to exclude his primary home as his home as his home is not an investable asset. That is why a person staying in a $10m bungalow but has not much other asset or cash may not be a millionaire. But please don't be stupid to pledge your bungalow to borrow $5m for you to invest, you risk losing your bungalow if your investment goes to zero.

A person staying in a HDB flat but has $1m in stocks and cash is a millionaire.

So to be a millionaire, you should sell your $10m bungalow and buy a $5m condo. You then have $5m to invest and you have private bankers serving you.

I've got a friend who was tired of the rat race. He sold his semi D for $2.6m and bought a $1.2m condo. He is debt free and now manages his $1m plus stocks investments. He is a happier person now, he now has more time to exercise in the gym and swim in the condo.

I did likewise. Quit my job. No more office politics. I sold my fully paid up terrace for $1.9m and bought a $400k 4 room HDB flat in Bukit Batok. Now I am my own boss, actively managing $1.5m worth of equities investments. I get about $80k of equities dividends per year, while the value of my investment appreciated by 10% in 2013. I now have more free time to take care of my family. My wife is working, earning $70k pa. So with $150k pa family income, we survive. I hope to grow my investment to $5m over the next 20 years, so that my wife and I can retire at 65.