As a millionaire, I contribute to the economy by my spendings on property, cars, luxury goods, etc. I used to be a corporate professional but now I am a full time investor. I play an important role in the business world as I provide funding for businesses.

You don't say, pray tell us how many millions do you have

What I noticed is those that are quick to brand themselves Millionaires on the forum are typically entry level Millionaires.

Just like that Mitsubishi car passenger ridiculing the bus driver about his car vs the bus, most mid to high level Millionaires just state how much they have and let people decide. In fact most of the proper Millionaires probably don't even realize how much they have.

There are now 174,000 millionaires in Singapore.

I am one of them since 2012. My net worth is not the marginal millonaire type.

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Jump in number of Singapore millionaires: Credit Suisse

Figure now at 174,000, thanks to recovery of financial markets: Report

By Yasmine Yahya
10 Oct 2013

The number of millionaires here has risen at a sharp rate, thanks to the robust recovery of financial markets in the past year.

The Credit Suisse Global Wealth Report found that Singapore's total wealth grew by 8.7 per cent to US$1.1 trillion (S$1.37 trillion) in the 12 months to mid-2013. Average wealth per adult increased by 6.8 per cent to US$282,000. This figure includes a person's home, if he owns it.

This is quite a turnaround from the last report, which showed that between mid-2011 and mid-2012, total household wealth in Singapore dipped by 2.5 per cent to US$1 trillion, while the average wealth of people fell by 4 per cent to US$258,117. As a result, Singapore is now ranked second in the Asia-Pacific region after Australia in terms of wealth per adult, up one spot from last year. Globally, Singapore is now in eighth position.

Switzerland retained its top spot, with average wealth of US$513,000 per person, followed by Australia in second place with average wealth of US$403,000 and Norway in third at US$308,000.

I put the above post,

Can you help me define non marginal millionaire? > 5M, > 10M > 50M ?

Really guys, the $1m today is not that big deal as in 1990 or even 2000.

Then it could help you greatly in buying up a landed home or a penthouse condo.

Now even smallish studio apartments are almost costing that much. And the humble Vios car is already at $120k.

To make matters worst, every father mother son and the wife combined income is $200k pa on average. In 5 years, they would have earned $1m. In 10 years, they would have saved $1m. Over 30 years, they would have $3m. And they will be working still.

I looked around at my colleagues, those of my cohort in our 50s, we have long forgotten our goal of achieving $1m when we first graduated in the early 80s. What is $1m? That amount can't even see you through a 20 year retirement.

Now we can only be impressed by people who have $10m and upwards.

Agreed, that's why I wanted to know which bracket he was referring too when he says non marginal?

I am thinking. If we exclude the property (especially applicable for those close to/fully paid ones) we are residing in from the nett worth, I wonder how many of the folks in this thread will still be classified as "millionaires" ? Technically, it should be, but we can only monetize it if we do not stay in it, unless one sells it &* down grade, OR, rent it out.

Actually, It is easy for a graduate couples to be millionaires by the time they retire at 65. The main thing is they do not keep increasing their spendings as their income grow. For instance, they would first be given a big welfare handout by the government when they bought their BTO because BTO flats are so cheap. Let's say they buy it at $300k, this is a lot cheaper than the resale flats. The flats would be worth at least $500k after 5 years MOP. So, their wealth is boosted by $200k just for staying in a flat for 5 years.

The couple should not incur more debt by upgrading. They should just continue to work hard and save. Also don't gamble by buying an investment property because their can lose hundreds of thousands of dollars if they can't afford to hold as they may not be able to rent their property out as there are no more tenants due to the big oversupply coming.

So if the couple in their 40s earn $200k pa, and they don't drive, drink, smoke, they can save $100k a year. So in 20 years, they can save $2m. The $2m can be used to buy 5% dividends yield stocks and give them passive income of $100k pa. On top of that, their CPF Life payout will be $24k pa as a couple and their children may give them another $12k pa as a couple. So in total, they will earn $136k pa of passive income. Since they are old and living in HDB flat, they will enjoy many rebates.

Whoa, whoa, don't swing to extremes. Don't blindly save to achieve that $m as it is more important to lead a meaningful, enriching and enjoyable life. We saved only to ensure that we can live out our twilight years independently financially.

It is about striking a balance. Don't overspend and don't over save.

Now in my mid fifties I have noted that my household expenses have more or less stabilized around $100k to $120k pa when we were in our 40s. Since our household income hit $250k with bonuses when were in our early 40s, we were able to save $100k + yearly. The children's education expense will spike when they get into uni. Overseas uni can set you back $50k or more per year. Luckily my children chose to study locally.

What kind of lifestyle the $100k - $120k pa afford us? We stay in a condo with full facilities, 6 of us including maid. We have a car (Jap car). We eat out at mid range restaurants every weekend. We take a short holiday to M'sia or Indon'sia durin June Holidays, and a longer one further away eg Europe, or Japan, Korea etc at year end. We find our lifestyle enjoyable and yet not lavish.

Our savings grew from $100k+ in our early 40s to high $200k+ now, a result of higher income combined with passive income. For eg., our net worth grew by another $1m in 3+ years.

I am thus not surprised with the rising number of millionaires as there are many couples out there with much higher earning power than ourselves.